The Inevitable
by scattersoflight
Summary: In a world without a known savior, Ginny Weasley races against the return of Voldemort to discover what happened to the Potter family, particularly the young son at the center of the prophecy.
1. Prologue No Resolution

A/N: So this a little (terribly) AU story. I don't want to give away too much, but basically we have a Harry who does not grow up as Harry, and a wizarding world that is dealing with the slow, but unavoidable return of Voldemort. It's a story about how drastically different lives can be based on one change, but also of how some things are inevitable. I apologize for any grammar issues; I'm currently without a beta for my HP stories, so I'm doing the best I can! If you have a moment, a review would be much welcomed and appreciated!

**The Inevitable**

**Prologue – **_**No Resolution**_

"We have to hurry!" a squat, unattractive young man urgently whispered to his companion. "W-we must c-complete the task. He – he said we had to, even if something happened."

"I know what he said," the other young man snapped back harshly, not bothering to spare a glance at the panicked man with him. The attention of this young man, with his long, hooked nose, greasy, lank hair, and pinched, bitter expression, was focused down on the squalling baby on the floor between them. In a slightly softer voice, he added, "I know what we are supposed to do."

The other man, obviously agitated and nervous, fluttered his hands uselessly, a short stick dangling between the fingers of his right hand. "I c-c-can't do. You have to be the one. I-it's just that I-I-I've he-held him before. It – I _can't_."

The dark haired man rolled his eyes, but he made no move to finish the task either. "What – what if we change the task slightly?" He too looked as though his stomach was turning at the thought of carrying out the task their master had laid before them. "We can still rid our world of the boy without killing him. There are things we can do."

The mousy looking man blinked in surprise before nervously scanning the room as though he expected someone – or something – to jump out of the shadows. "But I – what he'd d-do to us. Y-you h-h-have to do it, what he ordered!"

"I can't," the man admitted, still staring at the now quieting baby. "He's just a baby, _Lily's_ baby, and I – I can't kill him."

The other man stared back at him with wide, scared eyes. "B-b-but if w-we don't, then…"

He let the sentence trail off, but what was left unsaid was more than understood between the two of them. If they did not finish their task, their master would punish them. Even though their master had seemingly disappeared, right before their eyes, there was ample reason to believe he would punish them. If not him, then his other followers would delight in the job.

They were at an impasse – both of the young men knew what needed to be done, what they _had_ to do to ensure their own survival, but for surprisingly similar reasons, neither could do it.

"We bind his magic and leave him at a Muggle orphanage," the taller of the two said assertively. "No one will suspect anything like that, and he'll never know the difference. The brat will be gone forever, and he'll never know that we didn't follow his orders precisely as planned. We'll just say that the child disappeared when he did."

The pudgy man nodded vigorously as he stared down at the red-faced baby. "That's – yes, I cannot do it. But what if he knows? What if he – "

"He's gone, is he not? No one else is here, so no one will ever know. It's just as well this way. There's something almost poetic about this, taking away his magic and leaving him to rot in a Muggle orphanage," sneered the greasy haired man. "No one will ever look for him; why would they? They'll have no reason to believe he's alive. Yes, this is the best way."

And with that, he started moving his wand in a complex motion as he softly incanted a long string of words. The green-eyed baby stared up at him, squirming uncomfortably as his magic was bound, locked away deep inside of him. Once he was satisfied that the work was done, he took a step back and looked up at his companion.

Nodding once sharply, he ordered, "Take the brat to an orphanage. Just leave him on the front step. Do not be seen, do not talk to anyone. Just drop him off and go!"

With that, he turned and disapparated on the spot, leaving the timid man alone with the baby. Nervously glancing around, he slid his wand into his arm holster before nervously bending and picking up the baby. "I'm sorry, Harry. I never meant for it to b-b-be this way. I had no choice." The baby wriggled around, his arms flailing about as though searching for something. Spotting what he thought the child may want, the man bent and picked up the child's prized possession, a stuffed black dog. "No harm in letting you have that, I suppose."

Following the orders of his companion, he disapparated as well, leaving the once cozy house of his friends in shambles, empty aside from their dead bodies.


	2. Chapter 1 Extraordinary Discoveries

A/N: I do not own anything!

**Chapter One – **_**Extraordinary Discoveries**_

The young woman, bundled tightly in her stylish pea coat with a scarf wrapped securely around her neck, hurried through the hustle and bustle of the crowded London street. She chanted lightly under breath, a quiet plea that she not be late falling from her full, pink lips. Her long red hair fell to the bottom of her shoulder blades in sleek, shiny waves, lifting and falling with the whims of the wind. Her warm brown eyes were opened wide, taking in all the sights around her, despite her obvious worry over her potential tardiness.

If anyone else on the street had been slightly less wrapped up in their own lives and worries, then someone may have noticed the way the pretty red head seemingly melted into the shadows, disappearing from sight. They probably would not have noticed the quiet but distinctive 'pop' that whispered its way out of those same shadows mere seconds later. But no one noticed any of that, and that was just fine with her.

She emerged from the shadows in a different, but no less busy, place altogether. A large welcome sign identified the place as Britain's Ministry of Magic, a fact that did not appear to phase the young lady even a tiny bit as she peeled off her long overcoat in the heat of the atrium. Several people called out greetings to her, and she pasted her biggest smile on her face and returned their salutations.

She hurried to catch a lift before the doors could close, smiling apologetically to the people forced to wait on her. In a clear, self-assured voice, she asked the lift operator – although none was to be seen – for the Department of Mysteries. After several other stops to let her fellow passengers off, the old lift shuddered and clanged to a stop as the voice of an unseen being announced her stop.

She stepped gracefully out of the lift and made her way down a long, twisty hall before slowing to a stop in front of a door that 'The Office of Unspeakable Ginevra M. Weasley'. A shadow flickered in her eyes as she glanced at the name placard, but after a deep breath and rueful shake of the head, the darkness was gone as quickly as it had come. "Another day in the life," she muttered aloud to herself as she pulled a long, thin stick out of her sweater sleeve. A series of complicated movements followed, and then the door's lock could be heard unlatching. She pushed the door open and stepped into her office.

Ginevra hung her coat and scarf on the rack behind the door before kicking the door shut behind her. She moved over to her desk, flipping through the stack of memos and mail awaiting her attention. "Nothing worthwhile, as per the usual," she sighed to herself. Her weekly assignment sheet was sitting on the right side of her desk near her inkpot and quill. She picked it up and looked it over. Unsurprisingly, it contained no deviation from the previous week's schedule. Nodding resolutely, she stood back up. "The sooner I put in some time on this, the sooner I can start looking into the diary again," she muttered, as though trying to bolster her own spirits.

She left her office after grabbing her wand and assignment sheet, and then stepped back out into the hall. She walked further down it taking turns and branches as though she had done it a million times before. She stopped in front of one particular door – unmarked and completely unremarkable – before performing another series of complex movements with her wand that may or may not have been the same ones she performed on her office door.

"Yes, I'm late, so you don't need to bother with the lecture," she huffed out as she let herself into the nearly pitch black room. "I feel _awful_ about it, honestly."

"Your sincerity is rather overwhelming, Ginevra," a dry voice returned. A man, neither tall nor short, heavy nor thin, young nor old, stepped into the faint light provided by one of the glowing blue orbs that littered the room. "I am sure that I need not remind you that you were the one who pushed for this assignment. If you cannot give it the time it deserves, perhaps we should reassign you to something that more captures your interest."

"No! Professor, no, I don't want that," she hurriedly interjected. "I know that I haven't been very responsible lately, but I promise, I'll do better. I do want this assignment, and I know that I am capable of doing very well with it."

The man regarded her solemnly before nodding his agreement. "I want you on this project with me," he acknowledged. "Not only are you quite good at your job when you apply yourself and show up on time, but I know that it means as much to you as it does to me, albeit for different reasons. I appreciate your need to find this particular prophecy, if it truly exists, as much as I do my own. However, I also need your physical devotion in addition to the mental and emotional. If you cannot give me it all, then I will have no choice but to reassign you."

Ginevra bit her lip, obviously feeling guilty as she nodded at the older man. "I understand, Remus. I'll do better; I promise."

"I know you will," Remus agreed calmly, smiling kindly. "I trust that everything is fine with you, and that there were no problems that hindered your timeliness."

"Nope, that was just me being slow this morning," she grimaced. "Everything is as well as it can be, with me and the family. Fleur should have the baby any day now," she told him as she pulled her hair back into a sloppy bun. "I do wish Mum was here for this. She'd be over the moon, don't you think?"

Remus smiled at that thought. "Yes, yes, I do," he nodded, knowing how hard it was to talk about the family you have lost. It was an honor that she would share that with him. "I imagine that you are excited on your own behalf."

"Ha!" Ginny snorted in amusement, but her relief at not being pressed to talk more about her mother was evident on her face. "While it will be nice to have a gain rather than a loss, I'm not sure I'll know what to do with a baby. Being the youngest myself, I never had much experience around small children. Hopefully Bill – well, Fleur more likely, will be smart enough not to leave me alone with their baby."

"You'll do just fine, I'm sure," Remus assured her, and she actually let that bolster her a little bit. His faith had always had a way of doing that, dating back to her second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was one of the few things in life for which she was unendingly grateful. "I know that your family has suffered unimaginable loss, Ginny, but do not ever forget to be grateful for what you have. Part of what you have is a lot of love, and people willing to pick you up and dust you off should you fall. That's not always so easy to come by."

She bit her lower lip as she nodded contritely; his mild tone of voice had the power to shame her like nothing else in the world. "I know that you are right, and that I really ought to be more grateful. Sometimes they just drive me crazy. Ron has taken to stopping by my flat in the evenings just to see if I've made it home. I'm pretty sure Bill or Charlie put him up to it."

"Knowing Ronald, he likely volunteered," Remus pointed out with a grin. His eyes twinkled when she rolled her eyes in agreement. She laughed, but then they both turned to focus on their work.

They worked in silence, each diligently focused on the orbs before them. Ginny tapped her wand to her sphere, listening intently to the distorted voice that came from the glowing orb. A dictoquill recorded word for word what the orb said. Once each orb was finished, she used her wand to label and then banish it to a shelf across the room. On her nineteenth orb of the day, her eyes widened with excitement as she made it play again.

She waved her wand excitedly, a shower of golden sparks emitted in a bid to gain her partner's attention. "I – I think this is it," she whispered harshly when he moved over to her table. With another wave of her wand, the orb again spoke.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not…And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"_

Remus listened intently and made her play it three more times before holding his hand up indicating he had heard enough. "Yes, I think you are correct. Did you notice who the prophecy was made to?" he asked, his voice shaky and his face even more drawn than usual.

Ginny glanced at the labels, and had the situation not been so serious, he might have laughed at the way her eyes widened and she gasped aloud. "Dumbledore," she whispered, her brow furrowed in confusion. "But he knew! He knows, Remus. He knows what you and I are after here. Why did he never tell us?"

"I…don't know," Remus muttered, far more successful at maintaining an even demeanor than she. "I suppose he has his reasons, but I daresay that neither of us will agree with nor appreciate them much." He gave her a rueful smile. "It is no different from us, I assume. We both have our own motives and needs for pursuing this prophecy; he must have his for wanting it to stay a secret."

"Even to the Order?" Ginny demanded hotly. "This – this changes things! We have had so little to go on when it came to Riddle, so for Dumbledore to keep this from us, from the Order… I don't like it. I don't like it one bit."

"Well, neither do I," he conceded wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and first two fingers. "Had we known that this, that there really was a prophecy – well, I don't know. Perhaps things would be different now. I suppose it isn't really fair to work in the 'what if' mode, though. Especially given our profession."

Ginny let out a rather inelegant snort at that. "Our profession dictates we live our lives working with 'what if' and suppositions. Nature of the beast and all that. Why bother denying it now?"

Remus nodded distractedly at that, his eyes clouded over. Ginny knew that this topic was as personal to him as it was to her, but the difference, he knew her story. She was still in the dark about his. She could only hope that this would open the door and shine some light, at the very least. She hated the faraway look he would get when he thought about the part of his past that had led him down this path. Of course, she probably had a similar look when she thought of her reasons. One that was worse, perhaps.

"Well, we will have to talk to him. I expect he knows we will be coming, don't you?" Ginny could only nod numbly. "Perhaps now that we have heard this, he will give us the information he has. There shouldn't be any reason to continue hiding it, not from us."

Ginny sighed at that, shooting him what she hoped was more of a wry smile than the grimace it felt like. "It doesn't seem like it ever should have been, at least not once we started this project. Plus, the diary…It's all tied together, Remus. Probably even tighter than we had previously thought!"

He nodded, absently patting her hand. "We will figure this out, Ginny. While we still have far to go, this has definitely moved us closer. At least now we have something to work with, a place to start."

"It almost feels as though we are farther away than ever." She looked up at Remus, her eyes shining brightly with unshed tears. "What do we do now? We can't just drop the pretense of cataloguing the prophecies, but we shouldn't be wasting our time here any longer than necessary, either."

"Yes, I will see about getting both of us reassigned to projects that will leave us with more free time." He shook his head, chuckling in amusement. "I have to say that after teaching with her for a year, I never would have imagined that Sybil Trelawney was capable of making a prophecy that seems to have had some merit. It is more than a little unexpected."

Unable to help herself, Ginny joined in with her own laughter. "Too right. If you'd asked me, the odds of her predicting something that came true were about on par with Snape awarding points to a Gryffindor. This Gryffindor in particular," she grinned, pointing to her own chest.

Remus grinned widely before sobering again. "I think we should take a few days and think everything through before we proceed with confronting Albus on this. We will need to plot our course of action as best we can and know what we will do if he opposes our plan."

"You think he's going to continue pushing his own agenda then," she surmised, disappointed but not surprised. "I have to admit that I am rather curious as to what exactly his agenda is."

"It had certainly better be damned good," Remus growled, taking Ginny by surprise. She was not used to such aggressive displays from her normally mild-mannered mentor and friend.

"Will you tell me now why you are so invested in this?" she asked quietly, holding her breath. "You know my reasons, at least the primary ones, and as you seem just as invested in this as me, I can only assume that this is personal for you, too."

He stared at her, and she knew he was debating whether or not to give in and answer her query. "Two of my best friends were the parents of the boy mentioned in the prophecy." Ginny gasped in shock, even though she was not sure how shocked she actually was. "Yes, that is sort of how I feel about it. James and Lily Potter, two of the best friends anyone ever had. They had made a lovely life for themselves with Harry, their young son. Why, he'd only be a year older than you, Ginny."

"What happened to them?" she asked quietly, suddenly understanding the true cause of the sadness in his eyes. It wasn't for himself, for his lycanthropy; no, it was for his friends and their baby.

"To be perfectly honest, I do not believe that I know any longer. Dumbledore told me a few others that You-Know-Who, _Riddle_, killed the whole family due to a prophecy one of the Death Eaters had overheard being made. But now…"

She raised her eyebrow inquiringly when he broke off. "But now you think there is more to the story," she nodded knowingly. "Well, of course there is. Just like with the diary. There is obviously so much more to this than anyone is telling, or maybe more than anyone knows." She sighed, remembering herself, remembering the horrors Riddle had inflicted on Remus's life. "I am sorry, Remus. For you, for your friends. When I think of all the pain that Riddle has been allowed to cause, it makes me sick. And if Dumbledore could have done something to prevent any of it, then – well, you can imagine how angry that thought makes me."

Remus nodding in understanding. "Thank you, Ginevra. I appreciate that, I know that you can sympathize better than anyone else." A wistful smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "You'd have liked them very much. Oh, and it would have been reciprocated, too. I wish you could have known them."

"Me too," she whispered, reaching out to curl her fingers around his. "I wish I could have known all of them. I wish that I had known you without the pain and the sadness that their loss wrought on your life." She frowned, a pertinent question springing to her mind. "How have I never heard of them? It's – well, to be horribly blunt, it's a rather sensational story, just the kind the _Prophet_ would love. It is rather unbelievable that I wouldn't know of it."

"That was – well, yes, you are right of course," he concurred, blushing hotly. "To be perfectly honest, I never really considered that point before. Seeing as Dumbledore hypothesized that in murdering young Harry, Riddle brought about his own death, it is rather unimaginable that no word of that was ever leaked. In fact…I don't know that any issue was ever made of their deaths whatsoever. I – there was a memorial, but there were so few of us there. And – and it doesn't make sense. What he told us doesn't make any sense at all, and I never realized it before now. What – what kind of friend does that make me?"

"You had other things to think of," Ginny said, attempting to console him. She knew what this kind of grief, _guilt_ could do to a person, and she knew all along he carried at least some with him. This was just going to make it worse. "What could you have done? What could you have done differently that you think would have made a difference?"

"I don't know," he admitted with a downcast shrug. "I could've tried to talk – well, I don't know. I never could have imagined things would turn out as they did."

"Did the Potters know that their son, and subsequently them, were in such danger?" Ginny asked as she tried to wrap her mind around the puzzle now laid out before her. Unfortunately, she had the bad feeling that they were missing even more pieces than they knew, and they knew without a doubt that a lot were missing.

"They would have – _were_ – in danger anyway. Lily was Muggleborn, and both were openly and fervently against Voldemort. The prophecy likely only sealed their fate, I suspect," he sighed. "I cannot even fathom how many lives were lost because of one crazy man's belief in blood superiority." He shook his head. "Then again, similar instances have occurred in the Muggle world, too. Sadly it does not seem to be as uncommon as one would like to believe."

Ginny nodded, familiar with what Remus was referencing. "What did they do to protect themselves? They had to have done some things, I would imagine."

Remus's face clouded over at that. "I was rather out of the loop at that point. No one knew who to trust, and I believe the person they chose to put their faith in made me seem the traitor. Ironically, he was the one who betrayed them."

"I'm sorry that you have to relive all of this," she said softly, knowing just how painful that could be. "I wouldn't push if it wasn't so necessary."

He nodded. "I know that, Ginevra. Believe me, I understand that this, what we are on the cusp of starting, is going to rip open old wounds. Not just for me, but for you, your family, and who knows how many others. It will likely be brutal, and people are not going to want to acknowledge some of the truths I am afraid we will discover."

"How bad do you think this will be??" she asked tightly, biting the inside of her cheek between her teeth so hard that she could taste the metallic tang of her blood.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "Probably very. Death Eater activity has been on the rise sharply lately. What if – what if he isn't gone?"

"My Godric," Ginny muttered softly. Remus didn't need to spell out who 'he' was. "You're right. Well, at least the Death Eaters don't believe he is."

Remus nodded absently. "Yes, they must think they have a way of bringing him back, for lack of a better phrase."

Ginny squeezed her eyes tightly shut. That meant that every other Death Eater 'uprising' over the past twenty years – past ten, in particular – were really meant for that same purpose. They weren't _just_ trying to cause chaos or mayhem; that was just a convenient cover and by-product. "Bloody Hell," she sword softly, glancing apologetically at her former professor. "Sorry, I just – "

"I think that sums it up quite succinctly, actually," Remus agreed. "Dumbledore knows, obviously. It is rather apparent now, in retrospect. He wouldn't have re-formed the Order of the Phoenix just for rogue Death Eater uprisings, even if the MLES was turning something of a blind eye to them."

"That blood, misleading bastard!" Ginny exclaimed angrily. Spots of hot color appeared on her cheeks. "How dare he! How dare he recruit people, _families_, into his bloody Order without telling the truth of it? Didn't we deserve to know the true risk? D-didn't my parents deserve to know what they were getting into?"

He eyed her with concern as she finished her rant, shaking like a lone, clinging leaf in a violent wind. "You ought to say just that to him, Ginevra," he counseled her. His voice was as soft as ever, but there was a steely flint of determination in his eyes that was both unfamiliar and reassuring. "I think he knows the questionable morality of what he's done, and I imagine he has lost sleep over some of them, but he deserves to hear it anyway, and you deserve to have your say."

Ginny frowned as she willed herself to calm down. "He had no right. They deserved to know. We all deserved to know! He's got so many people involved in this, and no one understands the full implications of it."

"I know. What he has done is wrong on many levels, but all we can do right now is move forward. He's had his reasons, and I doubt either of us will agree with them, but he will believe he did his best to protect our world," Remus sighed.

She waved her wand to cast a warming charm on herself. "What do we do now, Remus? Do you think that he'll be honest with us now? To tell you the truth, I'm a little doubtful about that. If he's gone this long keeping the truth to himself, my gut tells me that he'll continue holding steadfast to it."

With a wave of his wand, Remus replayed the prophecy. "He can't deny everything," he noted with a blandness she knew he could not possibly feel. "But yes, he will most likely continue to keep as much of this to himself as possible. I don't doubt that for a second."

"Well," she sniffed irritably, "We have righteous indignation on our side to go along with this other stuff. That's more than a leg to stand on."

"Yes, we'll be able to force at least some of his hand," Remus concurred with a small smile. "We won't know everything that he knows, but at this point, every little bit is going to help."

Ginny nodded, but did not look entirely convinced. "I don't know that I really believe that Professor Dumbledore will tell us much of any importance, but at least we know we are right. There _is_ something to all of this; at least we know that much now. At least we have proof, finally."

"Perhaps we should check out a pensieve and store some memories," Remus suggested uneasily, wishing he could find it in himself to chuckle at the way Ginny's eyes widened at the suggestion. "I know we are unlikely to need them, but just in case. I – we don't know enough to presume what Albus is capable of right now."

"This is an unending nightmare," Ginny groaned, her lips twisted in bitter frustration. "Well, you're right obviously. We can't trust him, and we'll have to do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves and our interests in this."

Remus nodded. "Precisely. I don't want to assume the worst, but we don't know the full extent of what we are dealing with, so we have no way of knowing how far he would go to protect this secret he has buried."

Ginny rubbed tiredly at her temple before nodding. "Of course. We should probably get two and leave them in difference places, along with letters containing instructions that we can have delivered to ourselves at odd times over the next few months. That ought to really cover all the quidditch rings, yeah?"

Staring into the glowing orb of the prophecy, Remus nodded. "Yes, I agree. Why don't I look into that? Go ahead and take the afternoon off, unless you have any pressing things from your other projects that need to be completed. I know you'll be wanting to experiment and test the diary some more, but right now I need you to get out of here and think this over. See if you can come up with anything we might be missing. Take your time, make one of those bloody diagrams you are so fond of; maybe you'll find something we haven't noticed. I'll do the same after getting the pensieves."

"Yes, alright," she sighed, suddenly eager to be away from all of the prophecies. "I will keep thinking on this. I'll send you an owl if I come up with anything interesting."

"That sounds fine," he acknowledged, again reaching out to pat her hand. "I am very proud of you, Ginevra. You pushed for us to research this, following your instincts which have proven to be spot on. I know I don't say it nearly as often as I should, but you are doing a marvelous job here. Now, if we could just get you showing up on time…"

She laughed heartily at that, beaming a bright smile at Remus. "Just so you know, Professor? I would not and could not have done any of this without you and your support. I mean that."

He gave her hand one last pat before motioning for her to go. "I will see you tomorrow," he said, walking her to the door. She understood that he did not want things to get any more emotional than they already had, and she was willing to play along with that, for his sake.

She stopped in her office on her way out to grab her coat and scarf, and then she left the Ministry. The busy streets of Diagon Alley felt overwhelming and stifling despite the cool April temperatures, so she hurried out of the little wizarding section of London. The Muggle portion far better suited her need for anonymity, and it would also provide the safe guarantee of not running into any of her prying older brothers. Some things she just preferred to do on her own terms.

She found a relatively quiet street to amble down as she let her thoughts run through all she had learned that morning. It felt overwhelming, but it was a relief just the same. _They finally had something to go on._ That was certainly nothing for her to scoff at, especially since it had begun to feel like she was grasping at straws.

She sighed as her stomach growled hungrily, reminding her that she'd hurried out of the house without so much as a piece of dry toast. She glanced around to see if there was anything suitable on that block, luckily spotting a coffee shop just on the other side of the street. It even promised sandwiches and pastries to 'swoon over'. In her case, they had her at coffee, so sandwiches and pastries that were swoon-worthy could only be considered a bonus.

Ginny made her way across the street, taking care on the rain slickened cobblestone, and then pushed her way into the small shop. It was cozy and warm, the smell of fresh baked bread making her feel instantly at home and all alone in the same split second. Shaking those thoughts away, she shrugged out of her coat and scarf to hang them on the provided rack.

It was an adorable little place, she decided instantly; one that she knew she'd be coming back to if the bread was even half as good as it smelled. She stood back from the counter as she perused the menu. Once she'd decided, she stepped up and cleared her throat to gain the attention of the man attending the counter. He turned around, a welcoming smile on his face, and for a moment, she was sure her heart had stopped. He was…perfect.

His green eyes flashed with awareness behind his round glasses as the smile froze on his face. Neither seemed able to tear their eyes away from the other, and Ginny could feel her face heating rapidly. He was gorgeous and adorable with his messy black hair and tall, lanky frame. Well, quite a bit taller than her at least, but she was rather sure everyone in London was taller than her. He had straight, white teeth to enhance his nice smile, but it was the eyes that kept drawing her attention. Those were marvelous.

"H-hi," he murmured breathlessly. "I'm James – I mean, how can I help you?"

Ginny smiled brilliantly at him, inwardly pleased that he seemed as affected by her as she felt she was by him. "Hi James, my name is Ginny. It's so nice to meet you."

He seemed to relax slightly at her introduction of herself, even extending his hand for her to shake. When their fingers brushed, it was like spider webs of lighting burst across her skin to eventually pool low in her belly. Her knees wanted to buckle, but she managed to stay upright. James regarded her with the same shock and passionate heat that she was feeling.

"I – I'm glad to meet you, too. You've never been here before – I'd have remembered," he said softly. "Can I get you a coffee, Ginny?"

"Well, coffee yes, but I'd really love a sandwich, too," she admitted with a smile. "If you wouldn't mind."

"No, not at all. It would be my pleasure," he smiled, pointing to a small sofa near the counter. "Let me fix your coffee and get your food. You can wait just there, if you'd like. I'll be happy to bring it to you."

Her smile widened at that although she glanced around cautiously. "I don't mind picking it up here or waiting. I don't want you to get in trouble, James."

His laugh melted her heart. "Don't worry about that. I've got it good with the owners of this place." He leaned forward on his elbows, whispering conspiratorially, "My mum and dad own this place. I'm fairly sure they won't sack their only son for talking to a pretty girl."

"Good," Ginny winked flirtatiously in return, giving him a saucy smile. She really was not sure what had come over her, but she kind of liked the frisson of excitement that his touch, his mere presence, had sent coursing through her. "If I'm to get you in trouble, I'd rather like it to be a little more worth both our whiles."

He seemed a little taken aback by her boldness, but just when she was starting to fear that she had overstepped, he burst into hearty laughter. It had been so long since she had heard such hearty, carefree laughter that she almost gave into the urge to cry. Instead, she managed to maintain her saucy grin and wait out his laughter. "I think I would like to know exactly what kind of trouble I could get into with you, Ginny. I'd actually like that very much."

"Oh," she breathed, delightfully nonplussed by his return of her flirting. "Well, if the sandwich is half as good as the sign out front promises, then maybe I'll show you sometime."

He grinned hugely at her. "I am going to make sure that you have the very best sandwich of your entire life," he swore, an eager smile plastered on his face. "You know, since you're the only one here, why don't you come back into the kitchen with me? Erm, that way you won't have to sit out here on your own. And well, maybe we can keep talking."

Ginny nodded at James, letting him take her hand and guide her around the counter. She felt that same wave of excitement crashing through her at his touch as when they'd shook hands, and she wondered how she had survived so long in life without ever feeling this alive. The feelings that James had elicited in mere moments thrilled her, bolstered, and made her feel wholly alive in a way she hadn't felt since before her first year of school. Maybe she'd _never_ felt this alive.

James smiled tentatively at her as he showed her around the small kitchen. As he talked her though the sandwich making process, charming and funny all the while, she took a closer look at him. He was definitely about her age, maybe a couple of years older at the most. She let herself stare into his amazing eyes, blushing furiously when he noticed and teased her for not paying attention. He reminded her of her brothers when they were younger, before any of them had that horrible, haunted look in their eyes.

"Are you on break from uni, too?" James asked as she ate her sandwich. "That's why I can be here during the days right now. When school is in session, I usually pick up some night shifts."

"Oh, erm, no, actually," she responded slowly as realization dawned. This boy, young man, was a Muggle, and she would have to lie to him. About virtually everything in her life. "I was let off work early," she explained, opting for as much truth as possible. "Good behavior and all."

"Yeah? What do you do?" he asked curiously, his green eyes paying rapt attention to her face.

"Research," she smiled, glad that she and Hermione had practiced these kinds of questions when she first found her Muggle flat. "Theory testing, that sort of thing. It's usually rather boring, but right now we've got a project that seems like it may actually end up being important."

He smiled as he got up to get her a fresh cup of tea. "Sounds interesting, you'll have to tell me more sometime. I wish I were done with uni so that I could get a real job." He sighed, but gave her a small smile at her questioning look. "Sometimes I feel like I'm taking advantage of my parents, you know? They pay for school, they gave me a job here, and they let me crash at their place when my flatmate is being an arse, which is more often than you'd think."

She tipped her head to the side, regarding him thoughtfully. "They must love you very much. Obviously they want to do what they can to help you be successful at school. You ought to let them; it probably means a lot to them, being able to help you."

James gave her a surprised look, but slowly nodded his agreement. "You're right," he chuckled, ruffling his hair, only serving to make it messier. "You're actually a lot more right than you could even know. How'd you get so smart?"

"I usually am right," she stated tartly, dissolving into giggles when he regarded her with surprise.

"So modest, too, Miss Ginny," he grinned. "What other traits of brilliance do you have? If you don't mind my asking…"

She smiled shyly at him, hoping that she did not overstep because of any gross misinterpretations on her part. "I guess that you'll have to get to know me better and find out for yourself."

"I'd really like that," he admitted with a gratifyingly wide smile she knew was just for her. "I don't do this very often – well, I never do this, really – but maybe, if you wanted, we could go out sometime. I really do want to know you better."

"Yes! I mean, I would like that," she immediately agreed. "I'd like to get to know you, too, James. I – I'm glad I stopped in here today."

Just then, before James could respond, the bell on the door rang indicating the arrival of customers. James groaned, cursing softly under his breath, just loud enough to set Ginny to grinning. "I forgot I was working," he admitted with a rueful laugh, shaking his head as though to clear it. "You make me forget myself."

She blushed at that, cursing the Weasley genes. "Well, I hope that's not a bad thing."

"No, not at all," he grinned easily, reaching out like he was going to brush her cheek before dropping his hand at the last second. "Come out with me Saturday night. We can go wherever you like, do whatever you want, it doesn't matter. I just want to see you again."

"Yes," she breathed happily. "I'd like that, James. I'd like that very much."

"Fantastic!" he enthused. "Right, I'd better get out there. Don't you leave without exchanging phone numbers or setting up a meeting place and time for Saturday, yeah?"

Ginny nodded in return, making a shooing motion with her hands. "I promise I won't leave without giving you my number and perhaps also setting up a date. I definitely won't go without saying goodbye."

James grinned widely at her as he backed out of the kitchen, and she decided that that smile made her unease at her wild display of flirting perfectly worth it. She finished her sandwich and tea and, as promise, she stopped and exchanged numbers with James. They also set up their date for that Friday night, as James remembered he had promised to dine with his Mum while his dad was out of town on Saturday. Ginny thought that was a perfectly wonderful reason for him to be unavailable. Actually, she had become quickly convinced that meeting this boy was going to prove to be the best thing to happen to her since…well, she couldn't remember anything better than his smile or the feel of his skin when their hands touched.

She had never believed in love at first sight or anything else like it, but James made her want to believe those kinds of things were possible. He made her feel alive, or at least like there might be more to life than the small existence she had let hers become narrowed down to. How could one young man have changed her whole perspective on just about everything in less than an hour? She couldn't figure it out, but she couldn't deny liking it either.

As she let herself into her flat, she couldn't help the giddy smile that sprung to her face. Though it was still a few days away, she could not stop herself from dancing her way over to the closet to examine her wardrobe for the perfect date ensemble. She knew that she should put it out of her mind for now, but she just couldn't really help herself. Despite the new developments at work, the handsome young man from the coffee shop was gaining far more traction in her mind.

She sighed heavily as she glanced through the racks of Muggle clothing in her closes. Maybe this would be an ideal to rally Emily, a Muggle friend she had made just after Hogwarts, for a shopping trip. On a whim, Ginny had found a weekend job at a high-end department store to take up her time not spent at her regular job, and Emily had instantly befriended her. They had become fast friends, and Emily had quickly brought Ginny up to speed on Muggle fashion. Even though they had only worked together for a year before Ginny burned out, she had two closets full of lovely clothing purchased under her friend's tutelage.

Sighing, she thought about the things that kept her from getting too close to Emily, and she wondered if it would cause a similar problem with James. Because she was a witch, she had to abide the Statute of Secrecy. So explaining who she really was and where she really came from was generally out of the question. In the past, she had held her Muggle friends and acquaintances at arm's length, but she didn't feel like that would be possible with James. Not when everything inside of her was screaming for her to pull him to her. Well, she supposed that if it came down to it, she would just have to petition for permission or, Statute be damned, she'd just tell him. But, she was not at that bridge yet, so there was no reason to think about crossing it, even though the thought wouldn't leave her mind. That boy…she sighed, shaking her head. She already had it bad.

Forcing her thoughts away from the green-eyed wonder, she began to ponder the mystery of Voldemort and the Potters, particularly their young son. It was such an awful tragedy, and although they couldn't bring that family back, maybe she and Remus could do something to give them the recognition and respect that they so clearly deserved. After all, if what they knew was to be believed, it was young Harry's death that had kept Voldemort from tormenting the world the past two decades. The family deserved to be honored for their horrific sacrifice, even if Voldemort's return seemed an imminent possibility.

A part of her could not believe that Professor Dumbledore would keep these vital things from everyone. She knew that Remus was right, that her former headmaster undoubtedly had very solid reasons for doing what he had done, but how many deaths had resulted from his secrecy? Had it led to the deaths of her own parents? She hated to think that of him, but she knew the possibility had merit. What had he not told her about Riddle's diary? She knew that evil piece of dark magic was connected somehow, but with so little to go on and no time to research it, she couldn't figure how it fit into the bigger picture.

Sighing, she flopped down on her bed. She was missing something, something that was likely painfully obvious. Sitting up, she decided to run with Remus's suggestion and set up a diagram of what she knew so far. She used one wall of her living as it was the largest, knowing it would be easy enough to charm away when she left the house or had a Muggle friend over. She started with the actual prophecy, frowning as she peered up at it. The way it was worded gave her pause, but her brain wasn't wrapping around anything obvious to justify her added uneasiness.

She added the other events and things they knew or were reasonably sure were connected to Voldemort, and then decided to let it go for the time being. Her mind was too muddled and overwhelmed with what they had learned today to function properly, so she decided to charm the wall clear and stop thinking on it for the evening. She glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall, groaning to see that she was scheduled to meet up with Hermione on Wednesday to help with the wedding plans. Dress shopping, she thought. It wasn't that she didn't want to help, but right now looking at dresses or color swatches or cake décor didn't seem all that important.

She knew that Hermione deserved a better maid of honor than she had been so far, and she resolved that she would do better. Hermione really had been an amazing, forgiving friend, and Ginny knew she owed her something huge in return. Since she was being so honest with herself, she knew that she ought to reach out to Ron and the twins, too. She had isolated herself a lot since their mother's death, and she knew that neither of her parents would have wanted that for her. She wasn't even entirely sure why she'd pulled so far away from them.

Taking a deep breath, she forced her guilt down. There wasn't really a reason to dwell on it since all she could do was better going forward. And she would. She would do better for everyone, from herself down to James.


	3. Chapter 2 Making It Right

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I posted the first chapter to gauge interest, but hadn't expected much, so wasn't prepared to post again. Life has been busy, but I've got a lot of story outlined, so now it is only a matter of getting it written. Easy peasy, right?

Yes, this story is extremely AU. Like a re-imagining of the entire premise of the series, basically. Bear with me, it'll be a bumpy ride, but one that will be worth it, I hope! Also be patient with my self-beta work; I'm trying, but sometimes my eyes auto-correct my errors, so I apologize for what I miss!

**Chapter Two – **_**Making it Right**_

"Are you ready for this?" Remus asked as they approached Hogwarts castle. "I really am not sure how this conversation is going to go. We need to be prepared for just about anything."

"Or maybe _everything_," Ginny interjected humorlessly. "I really hope he will be honest, Remus. We need his information; without it, we really have nothing."

Remus sighed, giving her a pained look. "It's not nothing. Now, it isn't a lot, and more information would certainly be helpful, but we have more than nothing."

She shrugged, not really sure that she agreed. "Well, hopefully he'll give us more to go on. Even if we have something to go on now, it would still be helpful to have more."

"I cannot argue with that," he conceded, looking for all the world as if he wanted to roll his eyes at her. "Let's just stick as best we can to what we've planned to say. No improvising and no angry outbursts. I mean it, Ginevra. The time will come when we can air out our grievances, but that isn't now."

Inwardly, Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yes, you have reminded me of this multiple times. I've already promised to contain myself, so there really is no reason to keep hounding me about it."

He smiled faintly at her and then nodded. "Very well. I shall try to keep my hounding, as you've so nicely put it, to a minimum on this subject." He tensed slightly at the sight of Dumbledore approaching them. "Well, this is it, then."

"Yes, well, isn't that good? I've been really anxious to get this done the past few days, so in some ways, this is actually a relief." She bit her lip, adding, "Of course, I dread very much what he's going to tell us, but at the very least I hope we will have more to go on."

Remus nodded, greeting Dumbledore with a raised hand. "Albus, so good to see you again. How are things here at Hogwarts?"

Dumbledore smiled benignly at both as he came to a stop in front of them. "Remus, Ginevra, it is wonderful as always to welcome back two of Hogwarts' finest students. Now, before I forget, Minerva has requested that I send both of you her way before you take your leave. I, however, would like to go one step further and offer that you stay and dine with the staff tonight. It would cause quite a stir amongst the students, I daresay, and the amusement of that never grows as old as one might think. Of course, the rest of the staff will be delighted to see you."

"Perhaps we will be able to do that," Remus agreed noncommittally. "Depending on how this conversation goes, that may not be possible."

"Ah," Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "You have been successful in your task, then. Tell me, what did you make of the prophecy? That is, what were your first impressions?"

Ginny drew a deep breath to collect herself, letting Remus take the lead on this one. "What did I think? My very first thoughts were the emotional reaction to what two of my best friends had to cope with knowing combined with anger when I realized that you had known all along. The more rational thoughts that followed were more along the lines of connecting how much of what has happened the past ten years, the Death Eater resurgence, the dark events, the _deaths_, to this prophecy."

Dumbledore nodded, obviously having been very much expecting something along those lines. "And you, Ginevra? What did you initially make of the prophecy?"

"Honestly, my first thought upon finding this oft-rumored prophecy was that it changed everything. It felt like we suddenly had something to go on. But when I stepped back for a moment, I realize that this just raised far more questions than it answered," she told him quite honestly. Remus flashed her an approving smile.

"I don't doubt that you both have many questions, and I also know that you are both very angry with me," he noted, his blue eyes twinkling as brightly as they ever had. "If you would be so kind as to venture to the Shrieking Shack with me, I have arranged with a house elf for tea to be provided."

Remus and Ginny agreed to go to the Shrieking Shack, and the trio made their way across the grounds, stopping only to say a brief hello to Hagrid. When they got to the Shrieking Shack, the house elf, Dobby, greeted Ginny rather enthusiastically. "Oh, Miss Wheezy! Dobby is so happy to see your loveliness again! It has been too long, far too long! Dobby has missed your kindness!"

"It is good to see you as well, Dobby," Ginny smiled, kneeling down to shake his hand even as she blushed at the praise he lavished on her. "How have you been?"

"Oh, Dobby is good, so lucky to be a free elf working at Hogwarts. Dobby can never repay Miss Wheezy and the great Headmaster for getting Dobby released from the very bad man," Dobby cried, tugging at his long, floppy ear.

Dumbledore smile at the house elf over the top of his glasses, nodding. "It was our pleasure. Now that everything looks so splendid here, would you please see to the other important task I have troubled you with?" Dobby nodded, protesting it was no trouble even as he disapparated away. "I had forgotten how much time you spent in the kitchens, Miss Weasley. Whatever happened to that remarkable map you had?"

Ginny blushed faintly, glancing Remus's way. He had been the one to present her with the Marauder's Map after her second year, once he had confiscated it from Fred and George, her older brothers. "Sometimes the house elves provided the best company," she shrugged, not wanting to get into what a social outcast she had been for her second through fourth years. "Besides, I had a real fondness for the hot chocolate here."

"Perhaps I can arrange a cup for you tonight, if you choose to stay for dinner," Dumbledore offered, giving her an understanding smile. "If you are not so angry that you cannot stay, of course."

"Will you tell us what happened to the Potters?" she asked, her anger at him for lying to her, to them all, warring with her decade long fondness for him. "You think that Voldemort can still be resurrected, don't you?"

Dumbledore briefly closed his eyes as he folded his hands together in front of him on the table. "Yes, I do believe that is more than a distinct possibility," he admitted sadly, looking as though the weight of the world was on his age-stooped shoulders. "It is of course very much tied to the death of young Harry Potter and the prophecy made concerning the two."

"How?" Remus asked hoarsely. "How is it possible that Voldemort survived if Harry did not? If he survived, where is he?"

"He has made, with the assistance of some of his most loyal followers, attempts to rise. I cannot say exactly where he has been, but I do know that he is indeed out there, lurking and biding his time. This Halloween marks the twentieth year of his defeat, and I fear…well, you both can surmise what I fear."

"Halloween is only six months away," Ginny noted tersely as Remus's mouth thinned to a grim line. "Professor, the wording of the prophecy bothers me. It says that neither can live while the other survives. Wouldn't you say that Voldemort is merely surviving right now, rather than living?"

Dumbledore turned his gaze to the window, sadness washing over his pale features. "Harry Potter is dead and gone, Ginevra. It would not do to pin our hopes on a dead toddler, now would it?"

Remus scowled at that, perceiving callousness in the headmaster's words. Ginny, however, persisted with her thought. "Sir, I honestly mean no disrespect, but I cannot help but think that we need to really explore the prophecy further. Look at the wording! I'm not a linguist by any means, but Professor, there has to be more to this!"

"Ginevra, _please_. Harry Potter died tragically in the attack on his family. His death, that family's horrible sacrifice, enabled our world to have twenty years of near freedom from a terror that someone your age could not possibly fathom." He peered at her over the top of his half moon glasses. "That poor child and his family deserve to rest in peace."

Ginny drew back, stung by his words. "I don't know what's more insulting, you thinking that I'd want to harm the memory of any of the Potters or the fact that what I went through with the diary and both of my parents dying at the hands of his followers has not given me a sense of understanding!"

Remus reaching out, settling his hand on her shoulder. "Albus, please, I don't think any of us wants anything other than to understand what happened to James, Lily, and Harry. If we can figure out a way to prevent anything similar from happening again, well, I think that is worth exploring, don't you?"

The headmaster looked at him sharply. "That is not what Ginevra is suggesting, and we all know that. How could the boy have survived? What happened to him was so horrible that his body disappeared, right along with Voldemort's."

"That's why I question this," Ginny interjected in a softer voice. "If Voldemort is still surviving, but not living, then couldn't Harry have somehow survived, too? Why are you so dismissive of this possibility? If you listen to the words, if you examine them, would it be so far-fetched to believe that, if Harry Potter really perished, that Voldemort would now be living?"

"I have another question," Remus stated plainly, but Ginny knew his frustrations were beginning to match her own. "Why did no one ever make known to the public what Lily and James sacrificed? Why didn't Ginny and her friends grow up hearing the story of Harry, his parents, and their incredible sacrifice? Surely they deserved a little recognition for, as you said yourself, bringing our world twenty years of near freedom from that monster! I should have questioned that long ago, but I let myself be distracted by my grief. No more, Albus. I agree with Ginevra. We need to look at the wording of this prophecy along with everything else. If Harry is alive…"

"Then he may be the only one who'd be able to rid us of Riddle once and for all," Ginny finished wearily. "Professor, I truly mean no disrespect to you or the Potters, but if there is no proof that Harry died, then I think we need to consider and look into this further!"

"He was gone when I got there. What further proof would you like, Ginevra? If the boy had lived, do you not think that he would have been there? He could not possibly have walked out of the house on his own," Dumbledore returned grimly.

"No, of course he could not have," Remus allowed, sparing a sideways glance at Ginny, "But we know there were Death Eaters there with Voldemort. What if one of them did something with Harry? Albus, you have to admit that it is a possibility." He sighed deeply, a tortured expression on his face. "Sirius was likely to have been there; it is possible, I suppose, that while he had no trouble letting Lily and James be killed, perhaps he took Harry somewhere after Voldemort disappeared. Perhaps he couldn't bring himself to harm the child."

Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair, slowly shaking his head. "Remus, I appreciate why you'd like to believe this, but it just isn't possible. While I suppose I have no way of proving Harry died to give you that peace of mind, there is also no evidence, none whatsoever, to suggest that he did not. What are the odds Voldemort would not have used the killing curse on Harry?"

Remus had no argument for that, but Ginny cut in with an idea. "What if we could prove that Harry did not die there in that house? I had lunch with Sara Marsh and Davey Smythe recently, and they were working on a spell that would reveal deaths of people in a place through their magical signatures." Both Remus and Dumbledore looked at her with raised eyebrows, and she shrugged in return. "Smythe thinks it is bad luck to live in a house where someone has died, so before he buys, they were trying to sort this out. I'll ask them about it. There's not much chance the Potters would have had a squib, right?"

"He'd already performed several bouts of accidental magic," Remus answered. "Harry definitely had a magical signature. Most likely a strong one, too."

Dumbledore nodded his agreement. "I'd met him a few times, and I am inclined to agree with that." He looked at Ginny. "I won't discourage you from pursuing this, but you should be prepared for disappointment."

She inclined her head in acknowledgement, but did not tamp down on the wild hope that flared within her. "It cannot hurt to at least verify this one way or the other, right?"

"Perhaps not, as it appears to be the only way you will accept the facts in this case," he noted somewhat wryly. "Remus, to address your earlier question, you are probably right that the Potters should have been given credit for what they did for our world. At the time, it was decided to let them be rather than turning their home into a site for gawkers. I just felt they deserved the peace in death that Voldemort had stolen from them in life."

Remus did not look pleased by that explanation, but nodded his head nonetheless. "Well, what are we doing to prevent the return of Voldemort?" he asked, knowing that this was another thing that needed to be discussed. "Are you at least planning on informing the Order that he is still out there?"

Ginny cleared her throat, drawing Dumbledore's attention before he could answer Remus's question. "Actually, I'd like to know why you never shared this with the Order before? Why were they – _we_ – not informed just what the risk was? Is?" She spared a glance at Remus who she was thankful to see did not look upset with her. "They all should have known just what they were up against, sir."

"They were up against Death Eaters, Ginevra. Every single one of them – of _you_ – know that. There was nothing more that needed to be known at the time."

"Nothing more," Remus noted, a decidedly humorless chuckle escaping his barely parted lips. "Perhaps knowing the true aim of the Death Eaters would have given people a better sense of awareness. Perhaps the gravity of the situation would have sunk in better if we had all been made to understand the desperation of their true aim! You have made mistakes, Albus. Please do not continue making the same one of keeping us all in the dark. No good has or will come of it, I can guarantee you that."

Ginny gave him a small smile when he glanced her way. There was no doubt that he had said it far better than she ever could have. Seeing Dumbledore's grimace, she knew that the pointed words had hit home, but she did not necessarily believe they would go far in swaying him. All in all, she felt their visit was shaping up to be a fairly vast disappointment. Not only did they have very little new information to go on, but Dumbledore seemed particularly reticent to even consider their challenges to the supposed outcome of the raid on the Potters. She had fervently hoped he would at least share something that they could use going forward, but that apparently was not meant to be.

"What about the diary, professor? I _know_ that is more connected, somehow, to all of this than you have ever told me," she stated flatly, but not combatively. "Don't I deserve to know everything that you do about it? I'm not eleven anymore."

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing more that I will tell you about the diary, Ginevra," he sighed. "Perhaps you will find out more on your own; all I have are suspicions that do not bear discussions when they have not been proved one way or the other."

Ginny nodded, but her frustration was still seeping through her, slowly growing ever larger. He could make this easier on all of them, but for some reason she could not figure out, he wouldn't. "Do you not trust us?" she asked, giving voice to the only plausible idea she had.

Dumbledore frown at the question, letting out an audible sigh. "Of course I trust you both. Very much so, in fact. However, there is some information that is far too sensitive to share with even the most trustworthy of friends."

"That does not make me feel any better," Remus quipped dryly as Dumbledore moved to stand. "I suppose our meeting is over, then?"

"Hopefully you can forgive an old man his need to eat at the regularly scheduled times," he offered with a smile. "I do hope that you will join us for dinner. Minerva would not forgive me if you did not."

Despite themselves, they both agreed. Ginny knew that Remus had a soft spot for Minerva McGonagall similar to her own, and it would be nice to see some of her other teachers as well. As always, the food at Hogwarts was lovely, and they both enjoyed catching up with most everyone, McGonagall and Hagrid in particular. Both avoided contact with Severus Snape, the school's Potion Master. After dinner, they took their leave, this time utilizing the floo in McGonagall's office to get back to the Department of Mysteries.

As she stepped gracefully out of the floo, Ginny caught Remus's eye. He shrugged, shaking his head a little. "I suppose that it went no worse than we could have hoped. At least he didn't attempt to obliviate us. Small favors, and all that."

"That's something," Ginny grumbled sarcastically. "He gave us nothing additional to go on, Remus. What are we supposed to do now?"

"Well, you remembered the project that Smythe and Marsh are working on, so you'll want to check in with them." He paused, looking at her with an assessing eye. "May I work on the diary for awhile? Perhaps you are too close to it or too eager for answers to be able to adequately get them."

"Fresh eyes and all that? Yes, that would be fine with me. A rather good idea, in fact," she sighed, dragging a shaking hand through her hair. "Who is this Sirius that you mentioned during our meeting with Dumbledore?"

Remus frowned, and Ginny watched with interest as his hands clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Yes, Sirius Black. He was James's best friend and the Potters' secret keeper. He was the one who ratted out their location to Voldemort." Ginny bit her lip, her heart contracting with understanding. "He virtually killed them. To make matters worse, our friend Peter tracked him down and Sirius actually did murder Peter along with a large number of Muggles. He's been in Azkaban ever since."

Ginny's brow furrowed in confusion as she couldn't remember ever even hearing the name Sirius Black, let alone the story of his trial. "I don't recall hearing of him before," she said aloud. "Binns was quite fond of lecturing on the Death Eater trials my seventh year. A portion of the NEWTs was actually centered on that."

"Sirius Black was not given a trial. He was sent directly to Azkaban," Remus explained. "I don't know that anyone has ever spoken with him since."

_That_ took Ginny aback. "No trial? How on Earth was that managed? I know a lot of the trials were rushed, poorly managed farces, but I cannot imagine someone being sent to Azkaban without one. Not even then."

Remus shrugged, not looking altogether fazed, which she could understand. "Obviously Albus had a hand in it since he'd gone to such lengths to keep what happened to the Potters a secret. A trial for Sirius would have just let all that information he'd buried come out."

She glanced sideways, looking up at him. "Thank you for agreeing with me about the wording of the prophecy and the possibility of Harry having survived. I know you don't really buy it, but it means a lot that you would stand up for me with him."

"It isn't that I don't accept the possibility," Remus sighed, tiredly scrubbing a hand over his face, "But it's that I don't want it to be possible. If it is true and Harry is alive, then I have failed him, Lily, and James. That's a very hard possibility for me to swallow."

"I'm sorry," Ginny apologized, feeling terribly guilty. "I never meant to drag you through anything so horrid. This – it's more than I thought it would be." She shook her head, staring blankly at the flat grey of the wall. "It seemed so simple when we started pursuing this, and I really thought it would be about connecting the prophecy to the diary. I just thought I'd finally be able to make sense of that."

"Don't be sorry," Remus ordered, a small smile on his face. "No matter how much this dredges up, knowing the truth will be worth it. Potentially helping to stop Voldemort from returning will be even more worth it."

Ginny nodded even though she wasn't entirely sure that was the case. Would they even be able to prevent anything? Given what they knew now and the impossible deadline they were staring down, it didn't really feel like it.

~*~

Ginny's face lit up in a smile when she spotted her friend walking towards her. "Hermione!" she called, suddenly excited to spend time with the older girl. "How are you?"

Hermione pulled Ginny into a tight hug, laughing as Ginny hugged her back fiercely. "I've missed you, too! Oh, I'm so glad you didn't cancel on me this time. I was sort of figuring that you would."

"I'm sorry," Ginny sighed, blushing up guiltily. She looked up at Hermione with an earnest expression on her face. "I don't mean to be so – so closed off, but sometimes I can't seem to help it. But I want to try. I _do_ miss you, Hermione."

"Oh, Gin!" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes filling with tears. "I've missed you, too! Do you know how hard it is to spend all of your time with mainly Ronald? Well, of course you do, yes. The rest of my time has been spent with Neville and Luna, and as much as I love them both, they really do drive me crazy."

Ginny smiled at that. "I know, and I am sorry. Things are going to be busy with work, but I promise that I'll do my best. I want to make it to all the dress shopping expeditions, to pick out flower arrangements, all of it. So long as work doesn't interfere, I'll be there," Ginny promised, finding that she truly meant it.

"Thank you," Hermione smiled, linking their arms together as they began walking down the street. "You should also stop avoiding Ron and the twins, you know. They all miss you quite desperately."

"Hermione," she began, only to be cut off when her friend held up her hand.

Giving her a knowing smile, Hermione shrugged. "Well, it's true, and they don't deserve the way you have cut them off. All of those boys worship the ground that you walk on, and it really hurts them that you have wanted so little to do with them lately."

Sighing, Ginny just shrugged. She really had no argument in her own defense to offer up. "It's just hard, Hermione. It feels like nothing turned out how it was supposed to, and now I don't know how to act around them. It just feels like I'm not enough anymore, or maybe that I'm not who they want me to be. It's hard to explain."

"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" Hermione began, quickly launching into lecture mode. "The only thing that any of us wants is for you to be you! Believe me, I know how hard it is, how hard things have been especially since your mum died, but it is just as hard for them, too! I think that you ought to take that into consideration." She sighed, biting her lip nervously, and Ginny knew she was worried she had gone too far. "Look, just come over to the Burrow for dinner. We all make it a point of being there on Sundays. Bill and Fleur even come as often as they can."

"I know," Ginny nodded as she stifled yet another sigh that rose unbidden to her lips. "I – I'll try, yeah? No promises, but I can try. I – I miss them, too. Well, most of the time. Then I remember how they had most boys at Hogwarts refusing to come within three feet of me, even after they'd all left."

Hermione grinned at that, looking thoroughly delighted. "I'll take that! Now, just try and make it to _one_ Sunday dinner this month. If you don't, I may drag you by the hair to the first one next month."

"Deal," Ginny chuckled, bumping shoulders with her friend affectionately. "Now, tell me everything. How are Luna and Neville? How's the shop? Are the twins being too terribly hard on Ron?"

Hermione launched into a rather scathing but probably deserved diatribe against the twins regarding their treatment of Ron. To Ginny's surprise, she found herself lapping up all of the information and even prodding for more by asking questions and giving her opinion on things unsolicited. She knew that she was shocking Hermione, and in truth, she was a little shocked herself. She couldn't decide if her new openness had to do with all that she and Remus had learned recently or if it had somehow stemmed from her electric first meeting with and anticipation for seeing James again. Either way, she figured it was a good thing and knew Hermione did, too.

As they walked into the dress shop in fashionable Muggle London, Ginny was embarrassed when she immediately pictured herself in one of the frothy, white dresses. The matter was only compounded when she realized that it was James, whom she had spent all of one hour with, that she pictured waiting for her at the end of the aisle. She blushed hotly, hoping Hermione wouldn't notice. That hope was, of course, entirely in vain as her friend was the most astute person she'd ever known.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked after they'd dismissed a bored looking salesgirl. "Your face is bright red; why on earth are you blushing?"

"It's nothing," Ginny whispered back, knowing the odds of getting out of this were not in her favor. "Honestly, Hermione, I was just thinking of what it would be like to wear one of these dresses myself. That's all."

Hermione grinned at her teasingly. "Ah, but you'd most likely need a groom, and last I checked, there weren't any prospects that sparked your interests." If possible, Ginny's blush became even hotter and darker. "Oh. Oh! You _do_ have a prospect! Ginny, why did you let me ramble on about work when we could have been talking about this?"

"Well, there isn't much to talk about," Ginny shrugged, fighting the goofy grin that was trying to grace her mouth. "I only just met him and we haven't even been out yet. Silly, right?"

"No! Ginny, that's not silly at all! Honestly, it's a bit sentimental, but it's very romantic. Who is he? Do I know him?"

Ginny shook her head slowly. "No, you most likely couldn't. He's a Muggle." Hermione did not appear surprised in the least by that. "I've only just met him the one time, but I cannot get him out of my head. We're meeting up tomorrow night for a date. It's silly, but I'm really looking forward to it."

"Quit calling yourself silly," Hermione ordered her sharply. "Being attracted to and liking a man is not silly in the least. Now, tell me what he's like: cute, funny, smart?"

"He's kind of rather perfect," Ginny breathed, trailing her fingers longingly over the bodice of one of the dresses. "He's bloody gorgeous with a beautiful smile and the most astonishingly gorgeous green eyes ever. He certainly seems smart, and he's attending Uni to get a job as a Muggle auror. Oh, and he is so funny, not to mention charming and clever and witty. But most of all, I could tell that he felt exactly what I was feeling the whole time we were together. It's – I've never felt this way before."

Hermione nodded, her eyes shining brightly. "He sounds marvelous. Hopefully your first date will go as well as your first meeting did. And if things do go well and you continue to see him, then keep in mind that we'll all be happy for you. Your brothers, Fleur, and I will be thrilled. So bring him around, yeah?"

Ginny laughed at the idea. "He's Muggle, Hermione. Can you picture him at the Burrow? I'm already going to have to be careful around him."

"Well, you do realize that if it gets serious, you can petition to have him made aware of our world. Really, Gin, you should do that as soon as you decide this is going somewhere, you know? The longer you wait, the more it will feel to him like you've deceived him intentionally."

"You think I haven't thought about all that?" Ginny asked wryly. "Of course I've thought about it. All the same, I can't just blurt it out, I don't think. Besides, after our date, he'll probably realize that I'm hopeless at these types of things and never call again. It isn't like I'm good at relationships, so that wouldn't be at all unexpected."

"You'll be fine, Ginny," Hermione smiled as she glanced through a rack of dresses. "So, besides being gorgeous and at Uni, what else is there about him? What's his name, his age? Is he originally from London? Oh, how did you meet?"

Ginny laughed at Hermione's rapid-fire questioning tactics. "His name is James, and he's probably a year or so older than me. Your age, I'd say. I met him at a coffee shop, where he was working. His parents own it, so he works there when he can. They had amazing sandwiches there, by the by."

Hermione rolled her eyes at that. "Only a Weasley would care about how the taste quality of a sandwich when she had potentially met her future husband. Hmph, how typical!"

"I was just saying!" Ginny protested laughingly. "Besides, it's a little early to call James my potential anything. We haven't even gone out yet, remember?"

Waving a hand carelessly through the air, Hermione dismissed that. "You've always had brilliant instincts, Ginny. If you feel this strongly for this James, then there is something there. Don't talk yourself into doubting that, please. You deserve this happiness."

Ginny gave her friend a grateful smile, impulsively reaching out to squeeze her hand. "Thank you, Hermione. That means a lot to me; _you_ mean a lot to me." She bit her lower lip as her eyes lowered in shame. "I know I've been rubbish with all the family and friend stuff lately, and I am sorry. I know I said it earlier, but I really am. It's just been so hard, and I've been focusing all of my attention on work."

"How is work going? Oh, I know, you can't discuss much, but you can at least tell me if the projects you're working on are going as you'd hoped, right?"

"Several of them are getting, erm, interesting," Ginny allowed. "It feels like we're making progress. I've been lucky enough to be assigned to Remus's team, so at the very least, work is always pleasant. Except when I'm running late. He's rather intolerant of tardiness. Honestly, though, I could not ask for a better supervisor, and we have many of the same philosophies and interests."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, regarding Ginny knowingly. "Are you still researching the object from your first year?"

"Well, yes," Ginny admitted warily. No one in her family ever liked talking about it, and Hermione was as good as family even without her impending marriage to Ron. "It's more than just an imprint of a memory, Hermione. I don't care what Dumbledore says! It has to be more than that! Remus is working on it right now; he felt that perhaps I'm too close to it, too involved to see it for all that it is. I just – it seems to me that there is more to it, more to all the things that have happened this past decade, for it to just be a shadow. I don't know that I can believe in coincidence anymore."

"I'm not sure what to say," Hermione said slowly. "You've always had such good instincts that it is hard for me to dismiss anything you say out of hand. It's just also – Ginny, don't you think that Professor Dumbledore would have told you if the diary was more? Don't you think he would have done more if it were connected to the Death Eater uprisings?"

"We may have to disagree on that belief," Ginny muttered darkly before shaking the gloomier thoughts away. "But you know what? Today shouldn't be about that. Today is about you, and finding you the most beautiful, perfect dress imaginable."

Hermione was regarding her with open curiosity which Ginny knew was because she'd never spoken anything but highly of Dumbledore before, but thankfully she didn't remark on it. "Well, I have to admit that I've done some preliminary work on this, so hopefully it won't take too long. See, I used the internet at the library to research dress styles, and I've narrowed it down to three. I'm rather hoping to hand the pictures over to a salesgirl and have her do all the hard work!"

Ginny laughed with her at that, and raised a hand to motion a salesgirl over to them. She took a step back as Hermione talked with the girl, explaining her tastes and her hopes for the dress of her dreams. She wandered through the store, her mind drifting away from dresses and weddings to the more pressing matters in life: James and Voldemort. Those were not two things she wanted to think about at the same time, but as they were her main focuses at the present time, they sometimes intertwined in her head.

Maybe she wasn't being fair in bringing James into her life at this time. If things were going where she and Remus suspected they were going in terms of the Death Eaters believing they had a way to resurrect Voldemort, then her world was about to become far too dangerous for a Muggle to be a part of. But all the same, she was drawn to him like she'd never been drawn to anyone, and she didn't want to let that go. Call it selfish, but she wanted this for herself. Aside from work, James was the first thing in ages that had even slightly piqued her interest, and she knew she couldn't bring herself to let that go.

After her mum died, she'd been closed off not only from new people, but from her family and friends. The person she was closest to was Remus, and while she didn't regret that for a second, it was definitely not what she was used to growing up. It was just hard to be around her brothers and Hermione when their presence only served to remind her of who was missing, and as for her friends, it was just easier to push all of them away.

She knew in her heart that she wouldn't be able to do the same with James. There was something about him that spoke to something in her, and that was something she could not ignore. Remus was constantly reminding her that she was allowed to – no, that she _should_ - have a life outside of their work, and maybe there was finally someone worth having that life with.

~*~

With a quiet growl of frustration, Ginny kicked off yet another shoe, letting it fall hopelessly to floor in the middle of her room. "Bloody hell," she muttered aloud, glaring at the ever-growing mass of shoes that she'd have to clean up later. She knew that she was being ridiculous, but looking good had never been as important to her as it was on this night. Impressing James was the only thing she'd been able to focus on all day; she could only be grateful she hadn't been needed at work.

Taking a deep breath and sitting down on the chair at her vanity, Ginny shook her head, smiling at her reflection in a self-deprecating manner. "I'm being ridiculous," she sighed, standing back up and grabbing a simple pair of black trousers – the pair that made her bum look rather spectacular – and a green v-neck sweater. It was simple but elegant, and she knew she'd be comfortable in it. Factoring in her considerable nerves, comfort seemed to be the way to go.

She changed quickly, sliding her fee into a pair of black flats adorned with gold-colored studs. She felt pretty and feminine and very, very nervous. She coiled her hair into a loose knot at the base of her head and put on a pair of gold, dangly earrings. Just as she was about to pull out her wand and banish the shoes back into the wardrobe, a knock sounded on the front door of her flat signaling James's arrival.

Her nervousness immediately gave way to excitement, and there was no pretense as she hurried to answer the door. "James, hi!" she beamed as she took him in standing there with one hand stuffed in his coat pocket, the other clutching a large bouquet of peonies in varying shades of pink. "Oh," she breathed, her eyes lifting to meet his. "Those are beautiful."

"So are you," he managed to croak out, blushing sheepishly. "I mean, these are for you."

"Thank you," she beamed in response, taking the pretty flowers from him. "Please come in. You'll have to excuse my mess; I usually am a slight bit more organized than this."

James laughed at that, a warm, rich sound that soothed the last of her remaining nerves as he leaned his hip against the kitchen counter, watching as she filled a vase with tap water for the flowers. "I rather think I'll survive my foray into your messy flat. I am a bloke, after all; I've seen far worse."

Ginny smiled, inclining her head in acknowledgement. "Well, that's certainly true. I have six older brothers, so I know a thing or two about messy blokes."

"I – I'm sorry, but did you just say that you have six brothers?" James goggled, his eyes wide as he thought over what that might mean. "That's a lot of brothers."

"You're telling me!" Ginny laughed. "Try growing up with that many over-protective gits trying to run your life. It's amazing they ever let me do anything."

He nods, frowning slightly. "Yes, I can't imagine having one sibling, let alone six. That sounds like it must've been quite something to grow up with, Ginny."

"You have no idea," she muttered, pouting good-naturedly. "It likely didn't help that I grew up with the bossiest, most stubborn bunch of berks you'll ever meet, too. I do love them, though."

"You'll have to tell me more about them," he encouraged her as she grabbed her coat off of the sofa. "I really would like to know all about you, Ginny Weasley."

Her cheeks flushed at that as she smiled up at him. He moved to open the door, motioning for her to go first. "I'd like to know all about you as well, James…"

James laughed heartily, reaching out to grab her hand. She was pleased that the same sparks of awareness skittered through her body as at their first meeting. "James Smythe," he finished for her. "I s'pose that helps, eh?"

"Oh, just a little. So, do tell where we are going tonight," she suggested, giving him her sweetest smile. "You've been so insistent that it's a surprise when we've spoke that I'm nearly about to crawl out of my skin with anticipation."

He lifted an eyebrow at that. "Well, it was supposed to be a surprise until we got there, but now I'm not sure if it can live up to the expectations. Maybe I should just tell you so you can be prepared."

Ginny bit her lip, laying a hand on his arm. "I didn't mean it like that. Whatever we do, wherever we go, I know I'll have a good time. I'll be with you."

Her quiet declaration seemed to startle him, but he relaxed quickly and gave her a grateful smile. "I actually thought we'd just grab some takeaway and then go to this little park I know that overlooks the Thames. It's in the neighborhood I grew up in."

She realized that he was sharing a lot with her, taking her somewhere that had personal meaning to him, and she knew instantly that this gesture eclipsed any romantic restaurant or fancy night out on the town that she could have dreamed up. "That sounds perfect."

"Good," he smiled, wrapping his fingers around hers. "There's a lot of great food in the area, so we can get whatever you want and then walk to the park. I've got a few blankets in the car, and it is dry enough that we should be okay, don't you think?"

"Yes, absolutely," she beamed, lacing her fingers through his as they walked down the stairs to his car. The drive was brief, and completely filled with easy conversation between the two. At the first hint of a tiny pause in the conversation, she breathlessly stated, "It feels like I've known you for ages."

He glanced over at her as he parked the car. "I know what you mean. We know barely anything about one another, but it…but that doesn't even seem to matter. I feel like I know _you_."

"I'm glad you feel that way, too," she murmured, completely sincere in the sentiment. This was all so new to her, but it seemed to be coming naturally. She imagined James was the reason she had such a sense of ease. She smiled to herself as he jumped out of the car, hurrying around to her side to open her door for her, taking her hand and guiding her out. "Thank you."

"I won't lie," he said bluntly, a grin tugging the corners of his mouth up. "That was not so much chivalrous as it was an excuse to touch you."

Ginny laughed at that, keeping her hand tucked into his elbow as they started slowly ambling down the street. "No one ever said you needed an excuse," she said in a husky voice, peeking up at him through her eyelashes. She'd flirted in school, but never like this and never with this much confidence. For her, this was a heady experience indeed. Heady and arousing.

James grinned back at her, his eyes filled with the same longing she knew was in hers. "I'll have to keep that in mind, then."

She laughed with him as he guided her into a small, cozy Italian restaurant. They placed their order, and then took seats at the bar as they waited for the food to be ready. James told her stories from his childhood and adventures at university, and Ginny reciprocated with stories of growing up with so many older brothers. He shuddered theatrically at the thought, and once their order was ready, Ginny grabbed it off the counter, and they walked hand in hand through the park across the street stopping only for James to retrieve the blankets out of the car.

"It's a nice night," Ginny commented quietly after a few moments of comfortable silence as they both enjoyed the food. "I'm really glad you thought of this. There's something to be said for dining al fresco."

"Yeah? I'm glad you like it. Wasn't pegging you for the type to be squeamish about eating outside, but you never really know," he grinned, a teasing glint in his eyes. "For all I knew, you could have been one of those terribly prissy girls who cry if they even hear mention of a bug."

Ginny smiled back at him, shaking her head slightly. "Six older brothers, remember? You can't grow up with that being squeamish, that's for sure."

"Glad to hear it," James returned lightly, reaching out and clasping her free hand within his own. "Thank you for coming out with me tonight. I – it probably sounds stupid, but the second I saw you, I knew I had to ask you out. It just felt…"

"Right?" she offered in a small voice tinged with awe. "I felt the same way, James. When I glanced up and saw you, something in me just _knew_. That might sound crazy, or definitely sudden, but it's true. You make something in me feel right, like it fell into place."

He leaned forward then, lifting his hand to cup gently around her neck, bringing her forward to meet him. "May I kiss you?"

She stared at him with wide eyes as she nodded breathlessly. "Oh, yes, please do."

When his lips met hers, tentatively and softly at first before becoming more sure and firm, Ginny had the sudden realization of what magic really was. And this was it. James's lips on her own, his fingers gently caressing the side of her face and neck, just brushing over her collar bone was magic. And she never wanted to wake up from the gentle, hazy spell it was weaving around her.

All too soon, the kiss was over, and James was pulling back, leaving her feeling dazed and aroused. "That was – I've never – erm, wow," she sputtered clumsily, feeling like a right arse for her lack of finesse.

"It was amazing," he supplied for her, looking triumphantly proud of himself. "I've never either." She blushed hotly, prompting a laugh from him. "I mean it, Ginny, I've never had a kiss like that. I've never felt this way because of a kiss. Oh, bloody hell, let me just throw it out there. I've never felt this way because of a girl before. I – you – there's something here. We both know it. Why bother dancing around it?"

"I'm so glad it's not just me then," she admitted, feeling a little flustered by the heavy turn of the evening. It wasn't a bad thing per se, but it was startling to her. He was right, though, and she was more than happy to admit that. There was quite obviously something between them, and she wanted to explore that every bit as much as he did. "I'm so – I don't know how to explain it, but I want to know you, in every way. I _need_ to know you."

He leaned in, pressing another lingering kiss to her lips. "I know, me too. Me too." Another kiss, and this one lingered even longer than the last two as she took the initiative of leaning into him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You are so beautiful, Ginny."

Ginny sighed, her breath ghosting over his cheek. "I'm so glad I wandered into the coffee shop the other day," she smiled, giggling when he abruptly, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap.

"So am I," he agreed, peppering kisses up and down her neck. "Come out with me again? As soon as you're free, tomorrow if possible?"

She giggled again, partially at his eagerness, and partially at her own. "I'll make time whenever you're free," she promised him, even though she knew how busy she was likely to be with her work. Somehow, she would find a way to make it work. Having James in her life was the first thing in ages that felt good and right, and she wasn't going to sacrifice that.

James smiled hugely at her, leaning down so that his forehead rested against hers. "Okay, then. We'll go out tomorrow. Maybe Sunday, too."

"Whenever you are free," she repeated, kissing his cheek.

She meant it, and more than that, she knew it was right. Finally, something in her life was perfectly right.


	4. Chapter 3 Changes

It's been a long while, hasn't it? Well, I'm doing my best to proceed with this story (and my others - but with the primary focus here). Hope you enjoy, forgive the type-o's, and leave your thoughts!

Happy reading!

**Chapter Three – **_**Changes**_

To her own surprise and chagrin, Ginny found herself humming cheerily as she hurried through the streets of London, having been up early enough to walk the few miles to work rather than hastily apparate directly from her apartment for once. There was a light drizzle coming down, but she barely noticed it as she weaved her way through the crowds of commuters heading to and from the Tube stations. Nothing was going to ruin her morning, particularly not a tiny bit of London rain.

After their initial date on Friday evening, Ginny spent Saturday night and from brunch through dinner on Sunday with James. In spite of the large amount of time whiled away with him, she found she only wanted more. That was definitely a first for her. Never before had any man piqued her interest, spoke to her on so many levels as James did. Part of her _wanted_ to be frightened or overwhelmed by it, but when she examined it, she knew that she wasn't. It was fast, yes, but it didn't feel unnatural or hurried, so she believed that it must be okay.

Because something that felt this good, this right, had to be okay. The rose-colored glasses of childhood no longer obscured her vision of the world, but Ginny Weasley still believed in love and hope and happiness and magic. She saw all of those things in James Anderson, and she somehow knew he saw them in her, too. Wasn't that enough?

Sighing happily, she nearly skipped as she sidestepped a rather large puddle, prompting her to shake her head over her own giddiness. Not only had they spent all weekend together, but they had planned for Ginny to meet for dinner that evening. She was figuring that she'd be spending a lot of her forthcoming meals with him, and she was eagerly anticipating it.

As she ducked through the entrance to Diagon Alley, she tried to put on a more serious face. In spite of what she'd promised Remus, she hadn't really given any thought to their predicament over the weekend. She certainly hadn't contacted Sara Marsh or Davey Smythe as she had intended, but at least one of them would be in the Ministry today. She figured Remus wouldn't be too upset with her over that, at least.

She made her way quickly to her office in spite of her punctuality. Feeling a little guilty over her lack of work over the weekend, she wanted to have a few moments to gather her thoughts and come up with at least a plan of attack before she was called in to confer with Remus. Taking a deep breath, she drew her wand and banished her coat to the rack in the corner.

"I thought I saw a light on in here, but I figured it must be a figment of my imagination. You can guess how surprised I am to see you actually are here, and more than a few minutes early, too," Remus's quiet but amused voice came from the doorway.

Ginny turned around quickly, startled by the interruption. "Oh, my! Remus, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that!" she gasped, laughing breathlessly. "I suppose this is why I shouldn't be up so early – I startle far easier."

He lifted a skeptical eyebrow, but merely offered her a wry smile rather than a comment. "Well, at any rate, it's nice to see you here on time. To what do we owe this pleasure? Did you have some epiphany over the weekend that we can work on?"

To her frustration, she felt her face heat up at that last question. "Unfortunately, no. To be honest, I didn't actually get any work done at all." She glanced down at the ground before looking up to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry! It was a terribly busy weekend, and I was spending time with a friend, and I know that's no excuse, but – "

"Ginevra," Remus interrupted, raising a hand to ensure the halt of her babble. "It's fine. You don't have to work every moment of your life. No one will ever begrudge you having some fun, some time for yourself."

"That's nice of you to say, Remus, but what we're working on is so terribly important," she sighed guiltily. "I should be completely focused on it, I know I should, but – "

"Stop. Listen to me. Do you really think it does anyone any good at all if you're solely focused on one thing and one thing only? Ginevra, you'll do so much better for everyone, not least of all yourself, if you let yourself have a balanced life. And that means going out and having fun, enjoying yourself with friends. You're entitled to it, and frankly you've earned it."

She sighed, lifting one shoulder up in resignation. It wasn't like she wanted to argue with him, to talk him into putting her on a more restrictive work schedule or guilt her into spending less time with James and more focusing on work, but she still had that nagging sense of guilt that wasn't going away. "I met someone," she admitted, catching both of them by surprise. "Hi-his name is James, and he's pretty much the best thing that has happened to me in years. Maybe my whole life. It's awful timing, I know it, but I can't seem to help it, Remus."

To her utmost shock, Remus smiled widely at her announcement. "You've met a boy, Ginny? That's wonderful news? Have you any idea how happy that would have made your mother?" he teased.

"I may have something of an idea," Ginny agreed wryly, swallowing hard around the lump in her throat. "This may be more complicated than she'd like, though. He's a Muggle."

Remus nodded thoughtfully, the smile still on his face. "Your mother would not have minded at all, provided he made you happy. And your father would have been ecstatic!"

She let out a small giggle at that. "Well, that's certainly true, isn't it? I don't know, Remus. It's such bad timing. Not only should I be focused on our task here, but is this really a fair time to risk bringing a Muggle into our world? Besides that, there's always the very large chance that he'll want absolutely nothing to do with me if he found out anyway. I – that would be very hard to bear."

"That is within the realm of possibility, indeed," Remus agreed with a nod of his head. "However, it certainly does not mean that it isn't worth trying." He took a seat at the chair in front of her desk. "There is a light in your eyes that I have not seen in a very, very long time. I'm not sure if I've ever seen this light, actually. The work will always be here, but the people may not. I know you appreciate that."

She nodded, her mind drifting back to the fateful days that claimed the lives of her parents. Arthur, her kind and understanding and wonderful father, was killed Christmas of her fourth year by the poison of a snake that bit him while on guard down here on this very level of the Ministry. She still had no confirmation what he was guarding, but she was fairly certain it was the prophecy she had so recently found. He passed away at St. Mungo's after saying goodbye to his wife and children.

Molly, her fierce and loving and tenacious mother, died when Death Eaters marched on Hogwarts her fifth year. Dumbledore had called the Order in, and although Molly was supposed to stay at the Burrow and prepare to receive the injured, she had gone through the Floo to help the cause and to protect her two youngest children. Molly more than held her own while dueling until a Death Eater in her blind spot managed to sever her jugular with a cutting hex. There had been no time to say goodbye, and to add insult to unspeakable injury, to this day, the Death Eaters' motive appeared to be solely because they could.

Shaking her head to clear it of such memories, she attempted to paste a smile on her face. "I'm fine," she said, waving off his concerned expression. "Sometimes it is just hard to think about them, and it's hard to think about dragging James into the world that killed them."

"Our world didn't kill them, Ginevra," Remus countered immediately. "Do you not realize that Muggles commit murders and engage in wars just as we have, just as we do? Don't look for excuses to let something special pass you by. Believe me, that is something you can spend the rest of your life regretting."

"I know," she smiled. "I'm glad to hear you say it, though. This is all just very new to me, but it feels right. Maybe that doesn't make sense, but it does, and I don't want to lose it. There's still this sense of nagging guilt that is leaving me feeling pretty awful over my lack of focus. I – there are so many people that I want to follow this project through for, Remus. And to be frank, if Voldemort is still out there, then I _need _to follow this through for so many others."

"You can follow through with this and still live your life," he offered pensievely. "I'm afraid that is something I've been terrible at all these years. I let myself concentrate fully on work to the complete detriment of a social life, and I – I've suffered for that. We had similarly difficult adolescences, you and me. I don't want to see you choose the same paths that I did after I lost my friends. That's why it is so pleasing to see you develop this attachment."

A small frown marred the smooth skin between her eyebrows. "I know you're right," she conceded, biting her lower lip. "I just don't want to let anyone down."

He allowed a small smile at that. "Your parents would be far more disappointed if you gave up a chance at happiness than if you didn't put all your focus in your job."

"Thank you, Remus. Not just for being your usual understanding self, but for not letting me lose sight of what is important. I needed that reminder."

His smile grew wider at her gratitude. "I'm just glad it was well-received. In fact, probably better that I was the one to give the speech rather than one of your brothers. They'd have likely found themselves on the wrong end of your wand."

Ginny laughed aloud at that. "Yes, most likely indeed. Well, at any rate, I do thank you. How I came to be so lucky as to have you in my life I do not know, but I will never take it for granted. It's – I miss my parents very much, but you have a way of making it hurt less."

His face turned so red at that she was sure steam would come out of his ears. It took him a few moments to compose himself enough to speak, and in that time, she wondered if she shouldn't have said anything. When he finally did speak, his voice was gruff with emotion. "Thank you, Ginevra. If I had been blessed with a daughter, my only hope is that she would have been half as wonderful and strong as you are."

"I'm glad we have each other then," Ginny said knowingly, stepping around her desk to hug him. She knew he was fairly uncomfortable with displays of affection like this, but at the moment, she did not care. It took him a moment, but he did eventually hug her back.

"We, ah, should probably get to work. I assume that is why you're here so bright and early, right?" Remus asked, shifting uncomfortably as she dropped the hug. With an indulgent smile, she nodded, letting him change the subject. "Well, excellent. Before I leave you to it, did you have anything you needed to discuss with me?"

She nodded at that, and they both took seats on opposite sides of her desk. "Well, the first thing I'm going to do today is try and track down Smythe and Davies. If they've got that spell figured out, perhaps we can go out to Godric's Hollow soon. It must be heavily warded; will we need Dumbledore's assistance, or can you get us in?"

"Luckily, I am one of the few keyed into the wards at the Potter residence in Godric's Hollow, so that shouldn't be a problem. It still might be wise to ask for Dumbledore's assistance anyway." Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but Remus cut her off with a raised hand. "No, hear me out, please. Say we perform the spell and it turns out as we expect; he'd have to admit then that he was wrong. Perhaps that would prompt him to share whatever he knows or suspects with us."

"Somehow I don't see that happening," Ginny snorted, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "I do see your point, though."

Remus nodded, moving to stand back up. "Was there anything else? If not, I've got some paperwork to review from some of the other Unspeakables. I've been so focused on what we've been doing that I've fallen a bit behind."

She inwardly sighed, knowing he wouldn't like what she was about to bring up. "Sirius Black, Remus. We need to talk to him."

As anticipated, Remus's eyes flared with anger and grief and he shook his head wildly. "Sirius Black is a murderous traitor, Ginevra. No good will come from seeing him."

"You can't know that," she rebutted quietly. She knew how hard this would be for him, and she was sensitive to that, but at the same time, she had the instinctive feeling that Sirius Black was somehow a key in all of this, and they desperately needed to talk to him. "Maybe he's sorry now. He's spent almost two decades locked away in Azkaban, Remus! That's a lot of time to think about his choices, to repent."

"Maybe he's gone even crazier than he must've been then," Remus countered. "Azkaban is a hideous place, you know that. Even without the dementors, it is one of the foulest places on earth."

"We have no choice," she finally stated, her voice soft but her tone implacable. She knew that she was right, and she wouldn't back down. Her instincts hadn't failed her yet in this crazy goose chase they were on, so why stop following them now? She wasn't sure how she knew, but somehow she knew that Black could – and _would_ – help them. "If you don't want to come with me, if you can't, that's fine. I would completely understand, but Remus, I will be going to Azkaban."

Remus leveled a hard look on her, but after a moment, he sighed deeply in what she knew was only resignation. "Very well. I'll get us on the visitor list. I suppose it is safe to assume that you'll want to do this immediately."

She gave a firm nod to the question. "Why delay? The sooner we can get this done, talk to Black and see what he'll tell us, well, the sooner that we might have something to actually go on."

"I'll go get us on the list; why don't you floo Marsh and Smythe and see if they've gotten that spell working yet," Remus suggested, a pained expression on his face that only served to fill her with immense amounts of guilt. He turned out and walked out of her office, leaving her to sigh with regret in his wake. She couldn't go forward another way, but it did pain her to know that this whole process was hurting him.

Sighing, she did as he asked and got the necessary information from Marsh and Smythe. They were an older pair, and absolutely fun to work with. Ginny was laughing hard as the floo-call ended, and when Remus re-entered her office, she was able to give him a wide smile. "They've perfected the spell, Remus! Of course, Smythe has rather decided that he wishes they hadn't since supposedly a very large number of homes have had people die in them. He doesn't think he'll ever find a place now."

Remus gave her a pained smile, motioning for her to take the seat behind her desk as he sat down in the chair in front of it. "We're on the visitor list at Azkaban now."

Ginny sucked in a deep breath, nodding thoughtfully. "I'll send an owl to Dumbledore and request that he meet us this afternoon in Godric's Hollow. I think we need to visit there first, obviously."

"Yes, that would be wise," Remus agreed tiredly. She hated what this was doing to him, but there wasn't any way around it, not that she could see. Unfortunately, they were both going to be facing down some of their demons before this was over and done with; that was something she was becoming more and more sure of as days went by. "Why don't I floo-call him now? Do Marsh and Smythe need to be there for this, or can we do it without them?"

"They've given me detailed instructions," Ginny answered softly. "I didn't think it would be necessary to have them there if at all avoidable. I – I know this isn't easy, Professor."

He nodded, almost absently as he moved to stand. "It isn't easy for any of us, is it?"

She sighed, biting her lower lip worriedly. "I think that it's harder for you than anyone else, perhaps. This family – they were your friends. That's so important to you, I know."

"They weren't just friends of mine, Ginevra. They were my family. The only family that I had by that point in my life." He reached the door, pausing to look back at her. "I suppose that I owe it to them, to James, Lily, and especially Harry. Finding out the truth of what happened that awful night is something that I owe them, and I know that I need your help to do this."

"We will," she promised fervently, her eyes imploring him to understand her commitment to this as she looked up at him.

He nodded sharply, the faintest trace of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "I know. I know that this is just as important to you as it is to me, and I appreciate it greatly. Now, excuse me while I floo Dumbledore. Come to my office when you're ready. We can floo to the atrium together."

There were a thousand words of comfort that she could offer him, that she _wanted_ to offer him; hell, they were some of the same words he'd offered her on various occasions, but she knew he didn't want to hear them. She sighed as the door clicked softly shut behind him, bringing a hand up to wearily drag through her hair.

"This is such a bloody mess," she cursed under her breath. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her notes and quickly organized them by hand. "Such a damned mess."

Standing in front of the Potter house in Godric's Hollow, Ginny couldn't help the clenching of her stomach as she surveyed the long abandoned house. Knowing what happened here to that young family made her feel physically ill, and judging by the tension radiating off of Remus, he felt the same. She reached out and briefly clasped his hand in hers, squeezing tightly. He glanced down at her, giving her a tight smile before glancing towards Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Albus, have the wards been changed over the years? I confess, this is the first time I've been here since – well, several months before the Potters were murdered. I don't know if – I should know, I should have come back – "

"Remus," Ginny interrupted quietly with another squeeze to his hand. "Of course you didn't come back here. I'd be far more concerned if you were coming here, treating it as some morbid shrine. You've done the best you can, Remus."

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Some additional wards were added, but they were mainly focused on keeping Muggles away. While the house wasn't precisely destroyed, there is some structural damage that could be hazardous to people unaware."

Ginny nodded, focusing more on Remus than their task at hand for the moment. "Maybe we should take a moment and get our bearings before we jump into this."

"No, no, I'm fine," Remus assured her, his fingers closing around hers softly. "Let's just go in and get this over with, yes? I think we're all eager to settle this matter."

Ginny bit back the words on the tip of her tongue, the retort that if things turn out as she anticipates things will still be far from settled. If things turn out as she expects, they'll know soon enough and will be forced to deal with it then

As they made their way into the house, Ginny kept up a running monologue describing how the spell works in an effort to distract the two men, particularly Remus, from the signs of struggle and damage. Dumbledore chimed in with questions as they made their way up the stairs, ending up in the nursery where Lily Potter was murdered and the bodies of Voldemort and Harry Potter should've been found.

Scrubbing a hand roughly over his face, Remus surveyed the room. "Aside from the overturned furniture, the faded wallpaper and the layers of dust, it looks just as it did when Lily first decorated it. She and James argued over clowns and animals as the theme. James actually won, something that did not happen all that often."

Ginny glanced around the room, biting her lip softly as she took in the hippogriffs and kneazles and unicorns that were probably once charmed to run across the wallpaper border. "It looks like it was lovely," she said honestly. "A lot of effort was put into this nursery."

Remus nodded absently as he slowly surveyed the room. Dumbledore remained in the doorway, simply observing the two of them. "They did. Well, honestly, James did. He wouldn't let Lily lift a finger. Si – Sirius helped a lot, too."

"Shall we get started?" Dumbledore asked, interrupting the painful silence perpetrated by Remus's statement. "Miss Weasley, is there anything we need to do to prepare for the spell?"

"No, there isn't." She lifted her wand, pausing only to look around the room again, before murmuring the incantation that Sarah and Davey had provided. After a brief beat, the glowing outline of a woman appeared on the floor in front of the crib, and Ginny knew instantly that it was the magical signature of Lily Potter. "Oh, my."

Remus looked over at her sharply. "That's it, do you need to cast it again, once for each of them?"

Ginny sighed, shaking her head. "No, sir, just the once does it. It works for the whole room. Smythe said that it could work for the whole house, depending on the power of the caster."

"I'll check downstairs," Dumbledore offered quietly, and they knew he was referring to the entryway of the house where James's body had been found.

"I – I knew she died, I knew that she had died and I knew how she died, but seeing this – it's so real," Remus sighed, his eyes again fixated on the outline where Lily Potter had died. "He – there's nothing for Harry. If he didn't die, Ginevra, do you understand what this means?" Before she could even open her mouth to respond, Remus continued. "I failed him. I failed all of them. I never checked, I never looked for him or fought for him, I never did anything."

"Oh, Remus, you've done nothing wrong," Ginny interrupted with a sigh. "You know you haven't. There – there was no way that you could've known that Harry didn't die. And honestly, who knows what happened to him. That's why we need to see Black; he might be willing to tell us what he did with him, where they took him."

Dumbledore reappeared in the doorway, grave concern written all over his face. "The spot where we found James shows his magical signature as well," he sighed, suddenly looking so much older than his many decades. "I'm afraid to be inclined to believe that neither Voldemort nor Harry Potter perished inside of this house."

Ginny was surprised at his ready acceptance, and from the expression on his face, she thought Remus was as well. "Unfortunately, that still gives us very little to go on," she remarked, trying not to feel frustrated but failing miserably.

"It's far more than we've had before," Dumbledore sighed, his regret written all over his face. "I should've known, I should've looked for the boy, done more."

"While I do believe you were far too complacent with regards to accepting what happened here, we honestly don't know if Harry Potter is still alive," Ginny interjected. "A Death Eater could've taken him from here and killed him anywhere else. We really have no way of knowing. The sooner we talk to Sirius Black the better. I hate to say it, but I'm afraid he's our best hope right now."

Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up at that. "Sirius Black? You mean to interview him?"

Ginny huffed in exasperation, and Remus cut in before she could formulate an angry response. "I don't much like it either, Albus, but do we have any other choice at this point? As James and Lily's secret keeper, Sirius would've been there. He's our best chance at finding out the truth of what happened that night. He's our best chance at finding out what happened to Harry."

"Yes, yes," Dumbledore murmured, slowly stroking his hand down the length of his beard. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid he won't be of much help. He's been in Azkaban for so long now that I fear the mental and emotional toll may have rendered him unable to help in any capacity."

"I understand," Ginny nodded. "Unfortunately, he is our best hope right now. I suppose that isn't worth much, but there it is. He's all we have."

Remus stood scowling, his arms folded across his chest. "He won't help us," he warned, the bitterness of betrayal and loss creeping into his tone. "Someone who betrayed their friends – _family_ – in the manner that he did will just laugh in our faces when we request help."

Dumbledore's brow creased as he inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment. "That is a very real possibility. However, Ms. Weasley is correct in that we need to make this attempt." He reached up, lifting his half moon spectacles away from his face. "I am afraid that these grave mistakes that I have made will be too much to overcome. Too much time has passed, and any evidence that may have been present then is surely gone now."

"Well, that isn't necessarily the case," Ginny countered. "Look what we were able to prove today. We know that Harry Potter did not die in this house. That may not seem like much to go on, but we can do a few things with that knowledge. We can look at all the boys who would be his age, maybe a year younger. If he was placed with a magical family to be raised, we may be able to track him down that way. Someone would surely remember a family that suddenly turned up with a child when no one had been pregnant. Some will be very easy to rule out – Muggleborns, children of prominent – "

"No," interrupted Dumbledore as he slid his glasses back on. "If – if they placed him with a family, it wouldn't have been a magical one. Too many questions, too easily discovered. However, if he were placed in the Muggle world, he would be nearly impossible to trace. There are charms that would have aided in that, as well. They would have easily kept him hidden all this time." He looked up, staring right into Ginny's eyes. "Go to Azkaban tomorrow morning, first thing. I will ensure that you have the necessary clearance. Once you have finished that meeting, come immediately to Hogwarts. Remus and I will be awaiting you there."

Remus frowned, shaking his head in protest. "No. No! Ginny cannot go there alone. I will not allow that. Besides, I want to be the one to see him, make him look me in the eye. He has a lot to answer for, and I aim to get as many of those answers as I can."

Ginny decided to remain silent and let Dumbledore explain his reasoning. "Remus, while I would like to see you get your retribution, I cannot allow you to be there for this. I am afraid that not only would your ability to control yourself be in jeopardy – understandably so – but I believe Mr. Black will be far less likely to respond to you or even myself. It is for the best that he is confronted by someone he doesn't know, such as Ms. Weasley. Besides, I will require your help searching through some of Hogwarts' records. Perhaps they will give us some hint as to what possible spells may have been used on young Mr. Potter."

Reluctantly, Remus agreed. "I want to state that I rather vehemently disagree with letting Ginevra go along, but I suppose you are right about the rest." He turned to look at Ginny. "Are you alright with this? Azkaban is not a place you should be having to visit under any circumstances."

"I'll be fine," she assured him quietly, touched by his almost parental concern. "Professor Dumbledore is correct, Black is far more likely to speak candidly with someone he doesn't know."

"Good," Dumbledore said, looking around the room with regret. "I cannot believe…well, let's just move forward. It does not do to dwell on the past as it cannot be changed."

Dumbledore left shortly thereafter, but not after providing Remus with search suggestions. "I suppose we should be going as well. There are too many ghosts here."

"You go on ahead," Ginny suggested. "I'd like to look through the house a bit more, and then take a walk around the village and get some fresh air. Country air is so much nicer than London air. I won't be far behind you."

He nodded, and turned to leave before moving back to face her. "I am so proud of you, Ginevra," he began quietly, holding up a hand to forestall her protests. "No, let me say this." Reluctantly, she nodded her cheeks flaming pink. "I mean it. You trusted your instincts, and you pushed when I didn't agree. You force _Albus Dumbledore_ to admit the errors of his ways, and believe me that is not something that happens often. Your work on this, quite frankly, has been nothing short of amazing. I know you have a deep personal stake in this, and that is part of what is driving you, but honestly, you have done brilliantly. I am so proud that you are my student, and I believe that if I had a daughter, I would want her to be just as tenacious and confident as you."

She smiled up at him, trying not to let the tears that sprung to her eyes at his praise spill over. "Thank you, Remus. I know your personal interest in this is just as vested as mine, and we're going to figure everything out. Now that Dumbledore has admitted that there is more to this than he was willing to accept, we'll have access to more than we would've otherwise. We will figure this out."

Remus allowed himself a smile at that. "In all honesty, even if he had chosen to continue burying his head in the sand, I still would believe that you would find a way to solve this puzzle. That Weasley stubborn streak comes in handy sometimes, I suppose." She grinned cheekily at that, prompting a laugh from him. "Well, I'd best be on my way. If you'd like to take this afternoon off and do something pleasant – perhaps with your new boyfriend – before going to Azkaban tomorrow, I would highly recommend it. You'll need as many pleasant thoughts to take with you as possible. And bring chocolate."

"Thank you, I may take you up on that. And thank you for everything, for trusting my instincts enough to support me in pursuing this and standing up to Dumbledore with me. I know how far-fetched all of this seemed; even I didn't know if I believed anything would come of it when I started digging."

"You are welcome. Now, I'm off. Try and enjoy your afternoon. If things go poorly with Sirius, don't stay and try to force it. If he is uncooperative, you won't change his mind, so don't torture yourself by lingering in that awful place."

She nodded her agreement. "I promise I won't. I'll see you tomorrow, Remus."

Sighing as he disapparated, she took one last long, lingering look around the nursery. Spying a stuffed black dog, she bent down to scoop it up. Holding it up for perusal, she cast a scourgify on it. "A little boy loved you once upon a time. Maybe I can find him and give you back."

With that, she shrunk the dog and stuffed it into her purse as she left the house. Walking around the small village, she stopped when she came to the cemetery. Curiosity compelled her to go through the gates, and she wandered around the small graveyard until she found the three nondescript markers signifying the final resting place of the Potter family. Tears welled in her eyes as it hit home just how young this family was when they were so brutally attacked.

"I don't really know what to say," she said softly, sinking to her knees in the grass. "'Thank you' is certainly insufficient given the magnitude of your sacrifice. What your family did for our world, the measure of relative peace that you have provided us, is nothing short of monumental. I am so sorry that what you did for all of us isn't readily known, isn't celebrated, but perhaps that is the way you would've wanted it. But the good news is that we think – _hope_ – your son is alive. If he is, I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to find him and tell him who he is.

"I also promise you that if he doesn't want anything to do with our world, I'll help him keep away. It's hard for me to imagine anyone not wanting to be a part of magic, but if he's been raised as a Muggle, then maybe he won't want any part of our world. I don't know. All of this is so scary to think about."

Sighing, she pulled out her wand and conjured up several small glass lilies, and set them in a row across the headstones. "Everyone else will lose sight of Harry in all of this, but as my thank you to you, I promise on my magic that, if we find him, nothing will happen to him. If no one else does, I will be the one to keep an eye on him and make sure that he's okay. I'll do that for you because of all you did for us."

She stayed there for a few minutes more, giving her silent thanks to a couple she'd never meet, and then stood up, brushing the grass off the knees of her pants. It was easy to decide that Remus was right, that she should take this afternoon to meet with James, and so she apparated home and quickly changed and freshened up before apparating back to Diagon Alley.

As she left the designated apparition platform, she caught sight of the gaudy sign announcing her brothers' store. Biting her lip, she guiltily turned away and hurried out of the Alley for the Muggle part of town. In spite of what she had promised Hermione, she hadn't taken the time to seek out any of her family yet. She knew she needed to, that she owed it them, herself and her parents, and she figured she'd just have to go to Sunday dinner at the Burrow now.

Smiling to herself when she spied James working through the window of the small diner, she felt her mood immediately improve. As she pushed open the door, she found she didn't even need to feign her good cheer as she waited for him to finish up with his customer and spot her.

"Gin!" he exclaimed the instant he saw her. He hurried around from behind the counter to come over and greet her. Instead of pulling her into the hug and maybe kiss that she was expecting, he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, spinning in a circle. "Hi."

"Hi back!" she laughed at the exuberant display, leaning her forehead down to rest against his. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too. What are you doing here? I thought you had to work all day; that's why I picked up this shift, remember?"

She nodded, beaming up at him as he set her down on her feet. "I remember. It's just that we had a little breakthrough on our research this morning, and since tomorrow will be an unpleasant day, I was given the afternoon off."

He grinned back at her. "Well, I'm certainly not complaining. Here, sit down, and I'll fix us some tea so we can talk."

"Oh, James, you have to work, though. I probably shouldn't have come and interrupted you," she fretted, glancing around the busy shop as she realized it was lunch time.

"Yes, you should have, Ginevra. Whenever you want to see me, you should come without giving it a second thought because I want to see you, too." He nodded over towards the register where a young girl had taken over. "Besides, we've got plenty of help today. Please, don't be sorry."

She blinked at that, the sweet words giving her a moment's pause. "Well, I won't be sorry then," she laughed. "I'm really glad to see you. It was a rough morning for work, and I – once we finished, I knew that I had to see you."

"James, dear, could you – oh, I didn't realize you were on break," an older woman with kind eyes and a sly smile interrupted. "And harassing a lovely young customer, as well. Lovey, don't let him irritate you. A good smack upside the head ought to do it."

As James blushed in embarrassment, Ginny grinned with delight. "I'll have to keep that in mind. I suppose it's always good to have a few tricks like that up your sleeve."

The woman beamed back at her, patting James's cheek lovingly. "Well, I may just be his old mum, but I still know how to keep this one in line. I've got all the tips you need."

"Oh, Mrs. Anderson, I'm – "

"No, no, let me do this properly," James interrupted, his cheeks still flaming in a bright blush. "Gin, this is my mum, Caroline Anderson. The thinks she's far funnier than she actually is, so don't mind her." That earned him a light cuff to the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah. Mum, this is Ginevra Weasley. Hopefully this isn't too forward since we haven't known one another very long, but I'm kind of hoping she'll consider being my girlfriend."

Ginny gaped at him, surprised for a second before a wide, beaming smile overtook her face. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs. Anderson. Don't you think I ought to leave him dangling for a moment while we chat?"

The older woman laughed loudly at that, winking at her son. "Oh, dear, I do like her. However, as much as I'd love to get to know you, I'm going to send the two of you off. You weren't scheduled to work today anyway, James, so go on and enjoy the afternoon. And Ginevra, please call me Caroline."

"Only if you call me Ginny," she nodded, reaching across the table to take James's hand in her own, putting him out of his misery. "You've raised a lovely son."

"That's about the nicest compliment a mother could ever receive," Caroline beamed. "You two have a lovely afternoon. Ginny, do feel free to stop by anytime, and get my son to bring you around for dinner soon. I'd love to introduce you to my husband."

James rolled his eyes as he stood up, helping Ginny out of her seat. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to his mum's cheek. "I will, Mum. And thanks for letting me leave early. I appreciate it."

"It's nice to meet you as well," Ginny agreed, smiling when James wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Thank you for letting me steal him away for the afternoon."

Caroline ushered them out of the shop, wishing them a fun afternoon once again. James tugged on her hand, pulling her down the street and around the corner. He stopped there, leaning back against the brick of the building and pulling her to him. "You just met my mother," he groaned, shaking his head with a little laugh. "Did she scare you away, then?"

Ginny laughed, "Not at all! Your mum is lovely, James. How could I not like the woman who raised you? Although, I have to admit that I hadn't really expected to meet her, not today."

"So, you haven't really answered what I said when I introduced you to her. Would you – would you be my girlfriend, Ginny?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning in to nuzzle her face against his chest. "Is it weird we've known each other less than a week? I guess it doesn't matter because my answer is the same either way: yes, of course I will!"

He let out a whoop of delight, pushing himself off the wall and lifting her against him in one sure movement. "That's the best thing I've ever heard, you know."

"Oh, the best, is it?" she laughed, a little breathless as she gazed into his beautiful green eyes. "I'm so glad you asked, you know. Even if it was in front of your mum when you were supposed to be working. What you lack in timing you make up for in style."

"Oi, enough with the teasing," he chuckled, leaning into brush his lips softly against hers. "And I know that it is soon, Gin, but I don't care. I – I've never felt like this before. Everything inside of me is screaming at me to hold onto you, hold onto this feeling. You – you're like magic."

She stilled at his words for a second before melting into his embrace. "So are you. I – you make me feel more alive than I've felt in a long time, since at least before my mum died. I honestly don't care how soon it is; I just care that we both want the same thing."

He squeezed her tightly. "I'm glad. I want you to feel as alive as I feel when I'm with you. I want to see you…well, all the time, really. In the morning when I wake up, at lunch just to give you a kiss and see your pretty smile, and at night, before I fall asleep. It's crazy. I know it is, but I don't seem to care that it is. I just want you, Gin, in every imaginable way."

James paused, setting her down on her feet. "Just tell me, will you, if I get too pushy? I do not want to scare you off, and I can only imagine what a bloody wanker I sound like right about now."

"You're not," she giggled, wrapping her arms tightly around the middle. "This is moving very fast, and while it is a little overwhelming, it's not a bad things, James. We'll just go at our own pace and not worry about conventional timelines and thinking. Frankly, I don't really care what anyone else thinks as long as things are right with us."

He smiled at that. "Our own pace. I like that."

Ginny laughed, somewhat giddily. "Well, I like you."

"Guess we're even then," he murmured before leaning down and kissing her deeply. "Let's go find somewhere to sit and talk, yeah?"

"My apartment," she suggested immediately, remembering that he was currently staying with his parents. She'd already Muggle-proofed her place thoroughly when she realized he was going to be around for awhile.

"Why, Miss Weasley, are you taking me to your apartment so you can have your wicked way with me? I might just like that."

She rolled her eyes playfully at the jog, patting him on the chest. "Actually, only a little. Mostly I thought we could talk and get to know one another better. We've already identified that we like each other – a lot – so we may as well get to know each other and verify that it extends past the chemistry."

"We can do that," he agreed immediately, taking her hand. "Let's go to your place and talk. When we get hungry, I'll have some food delivered. We can talk as long as you want."

"Excellent," she smiled, unwinding her arms from around him and taking her hand. They walked and chatted on the way back to her apartment, squishing together on the Tube – something she still wasn't thrilled taking – and sidestepping people on the sidewalk.

He looked around the living area of her small flat, smiling softly. "You have a nice place, Gin. Really, for someone so young, you're obviously doing really well for yourself. Are you sure you weren't a child prodigy who graduated university at age 13?"

Rolling her eyes, she tossed a pillow from the couch at him as he settled down onto it. "Of course not. I'm just very lucky to have found such a good job. Plus, for about a year, I worked two jobs. Although that might not count because I'm pretty sure every last penny of that paycheck was dumped right back into the store. Clothes, you know."

"Oh, of course," he agreed with mock solemnity, winking when she sat down beside him. "Tell me about your family. Now that you've met half of mine, I want to know more about yours.

"My family," she sighed, curling into his side. "It's…complicated. My family situation is complicated."

"Mass murderers?" he asked, teasing again.

She laughed. "Not that I know of, but the twins are crafty enough to maybe get away with it. They'd at least be able to creatively dispose of a body." She shook her head, smiling wryly. "No, it's not like that. It's – my parents both died while I was in school, about a year apart. We were always such a close family, and since then, I haven't been as good of a sister to my brothers as I ought to be."

He wrapped his arms around her, brushing her hair back to press a kiss to her temple. "Oh, Gin. I'm sure you've done the best you could."

"That's the problem, I know I haven't. I just – I've been selfish and I've chosen to focus on my career rather than my family, and I know it hurts them. But going back home _hurts_. I hate walking in that house and seeing the kitchen without my mum fussing at someone. That's her kitchen! I love my sister-in-law dearly, but seeing her in there instead of my mother is just like pouring salt in the open wound. And I feel like such a jerk for feeling like this because it's been years and I ought to be used to it."

"Love, I don't think there's any timetable on grief. Some of it will probably always hurt." She nodded woodenly, and they both recognized it for the hollow gesture that it was. "So, I was adopted when I was five. My birth parents – or perhaps just mother – abandoned me on the steps of an orphanage when I was a little over a year old. They don't even know what my birthday is or where I was born because the only information given in a note was that my father's name was James, and that I could be called that, too."

She took a deep breath, pulling back slightly to look up at him. "It took until you were five before your parents found you?"

He nodded, gathering her close to him again. "Yeah. I was a really surly toddler; they didn't know. I guess I was healthy, nourished and well kept when I was deposited there, but no one knows what happened to me. But the Andersons came in one, and even though I kicked my dad on the shins – yes, both of them – they made the decision to love me."

"That's so special," she breathed, smiling up at him. "I imagine it was a very easy decision for them to make, James."

"You're too sweet." He hugged her tightly once again. "I was lucky, though. If they hadn't seen something in me, I don't think that anyone else would've, and who knows where I'd be."

Ginny pressed a kiss to his jaw, murmuring, "But that doesn't matter, does it? Because you're here, with parents that love you and you love in return. And you may have been lucky, but James, they were lucky, too. They've been your parents for the last sixteen years."

He chuckled at that. "I suppose. Maybe all three of us were lucky. I really don't know. I'm just glad, and extremely grateful, that I have them. Because I honestly don't know where I'd be without them. Most likely not here with you, and that would be a shame, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, it would indeed," she agreed with a wide grin. "But, you never know, right? The universe works in mysterious ways. Maybe you and I would be together no matter how different things were. Maybe us meeting was just…inevitable."

"I kind of like the sound of that."

"Mmm, me too," she agreed, purring with contentment as he pressed kisses down the column of her neck.

"Tell me more about your family," he suggested softly a few minutes later. "What were your parents like? How – what happened to them?"

She sighed, twisting in his arms so that she was reclining back against him. "They weren't perfect, either of them. I have to remind myself of that sometimes, do you know what I mean? Especially my father. I always kind of idolized him, and when he passed away, it was hard not to put him on that pedestal of perfection. My mother, well, it's a little easier to remember that with her because in all honesty, I have to admit I'm a lot like her. We have – had – a similar temperament, so we clashed a fair bit.

"Oh, never in the bad way like you see on the telly where the child runs away, but we argued. Being the youngest and only girl, she wanted to coddle me a lot more than I was willing to be coddled. But she loved all of us fiercely, and she took care of us in ways that it seems like a lot of women don't make the time to do. It was brilliant, really."

"What about your brothers? Besides being 'overprotective gits', what was it like to grow up with that many siblings?"

She had to laugh then, hearing the slight awe in his voice. "It was generally chaos, pandemonium. I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn I was often right in the thick of it."

She felt his chest rumble with laughter. "Oh, yes, I'm terribly shocked."

"Well, I had to be in order to assert myself against all those boys!" She laughed for a moment before sighing. "My mum wanted the princess type daughter, I think. I – I wasn't what she wanted, you know? I was a bit of a tomboy, always chasing the boys through the mud, catching frogs, climbing trees. I didn't want to learn to knit or baking techniques or any of those things she wanted to pass on to me."

"Oh, Gin, I have no doubt in my mind, even though I never met her, that you were everything your mum wanted. No doubt."

"Thanks," she whispered, squeezing his hand. "Anyway, that's where I always was. Chasing after the boys. It was fun. We grew up simply – my parents didn't have a lot of money, but we had a lot of love and they raised children that are all rather successful in their chosen fields. They did something right with us, that's for sure."

He pressed another kiss to her temple, and she realized how content she was to simply be held in his arms like that. "I think they did a lot right. You're going to introduce me to these brothers of yours, right? I want to meet your family."

She suddenly had to blink back tears as she wondered how she'd gotten so lucky as to find someone as wonderful as him. "Yes, you will. Soon. At least the ones that are still living in the area – only four of them. Should take some of the pressure off, right?" He laughed at that, shaking his head. "Anyway, I need to visit them myself since I've been avoiding them a bit, so I'll do that and arrange a time to have them over here to meet you."

"Aren't you clever, bringing them into your turf," he teased, kissing her neck again. "You're rather clever, aren't you?"

"Oh, I like to think so," she laughed, dissolving into giggles when he started to tickle her. "I'll go down for breakfast on Sunday, and arrange it, yeah?"

He tapped his fingers on her jaw until she turned her head to face him. "That would be good," he smiled, pressing a lingering kiss to the corner of her lips. "And you'll come have dinner with my parents soon. I – you're the first girl I'll have ever brought home to meet them like this."

"Me too." She pressed their lips back together, her mind still racing a mile a minute as she melted into his touch.

There were a million things she needed to do, and after her trip to Azkaban in the morning, the first thing she would do would be to petition the Ministry to have the Statute waived. She needed to tell James who she really was. At the rate things were progressing, it was only fair that he knew before it came out some other way. Such as her brothers. Ron in particular was sort of lousy at Muggle things, even though she sort of thought that may have more to do with irritating his fiancée. But she couldn't take the risk that he found out another way.

With that resolution in mind, she devoted herself fully to his kiss, letting the overwhelming good she felt from it sway her mind away from all the rest.


End file.
